Electronic pet system, network system, robot, and storage medium

ABSTRACT

An electronic pet with more reality using various types of devices. Specifically, a virtual electronic pet 202 and a pet-type robot 204 change the state of the emotion and the state of the instinct as the internal state of the electronic pet (information included in pet characteristic information 203) in accordance with surrounding information and internal information, and act in accordance with the state of the emotion and the state of the instinct. Transmission/reception of the internal state of the electronic pet (pet characteristic information 203) is made possible among the virtual electronic pet 202, the pet-type robot 204, and a personal computer 201. Thus, the action of the electronic pet is implemented by each device in accordance with the internal state of the electronic pet changed by another equipment.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates to an electronic pet system, a network system, arobot, and a storage medium, and particularly to an electronic petsystem, a network system, a robot, and a storage medium which enablerealization of an electronic pet in various types of devices.

BACKGROUND ART

Recently, so-called electronic pet devices (or breeding simulation gamemachines) have been popular because of the easiness in comparison withbreeding of real animals as pets.

In an electronic pet device, an object of a virtual living body isdisplayed as an electronic pet and a keeper (user of the electronic petdevice) is notified of the state of the electronic pet such as thedegree of starvation (hunger) or fatigue by an image or a sound. Thekeeper (user) feeds or plays with the electronic pet by operating theelectronic pet device in accordance with the state of the electronicpet. Thus, the electronic pet has its state (state of the electronicpet) changed on the basis of the keeper's actions and is thus bred. Theelectronic pet grows with the lapse of time and therefore the state ofthe electronic pet is also changed with the lapse of time.

Meanwhile, since the electronic pet device only displays the electronicpet on the display screen, the displayed electronic pet is a so-calledvirtual existence.

In the case where the electronic pet is realized by means of, forexample, a robot, which exists as a substance, the robot as theelectronic pet actually exists in the real world. In such a case, withrespect to the robot as the electronic pet, the keeper (user) will havea feeling closer to the feeling in the case of actually breeding a pet,than with the electronic pet displayed in the electronic pet device.

However, in the case where the electronic pet is realized by means of arobot, it is inconvenient to carry the robot in traveling or the like.Therefore, it is more convenient if the electronic pet can be realizedas an actually existing robot in a certain case and can be realized as avirtual existence in a portable electronic pet device in another case.

Since the electronic pet realized in the conventional electronic petdevice generally has its state changed in accordance with an input fromthe user or with the lapse of time and thus takes an action, it lacksreality in comparison with the case of breeding a real animal as a pet.

Specifically, for example, in the case where a dog as a real animal isbred as a pet, when the dog wants the keeper to play with him, the dogbarks or wags his tail to draw the keeper's attention. In this case, ifthe keeper keeps ignoring, the dog gets tired and stops barking orwagging his tail and then takes an action such as falling asleep. Thereal pet animal may be in high spirits after sleeping.

On the other hand, the electronic pet realized in the conventionalelectronic pet device (for example, an electronic pet dog) continuesbarking or wagging its tail when wanting the keeper to play, or stopssuch an action due to the lapse of time. Unlike the real pet animal (forexample, a dog), the electronic pet does not get tired and fall asleepthrough barking or wagging its tail. That is, in the electronic petrealized in the conventional electronic pet device, the state of theelectronic pet is not changed in accordance with the action of theelectronic pet itself, and therefore does not take any action inaccordance with such a change of the state due to the action of theelectronic pet itself. For these reasons, it is demanded to provide anelectronic pet with more reality.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

In view of the foregoing status of the art, it is an object of thepresent invention to provide an electronic pet system, a network system,a robot, and a storage medium which enable realization of an electronicpet with more reality in various types of devices.

Specifically, an electronic pet system according to the presentinvention has an information processing device and a robot. Theinformation processing device has transmission/reception means capableof transmitting and receiving the internal state of an electronic pet,which is changed in accordance with input information and is informationfor causing the electronic pet to act, and image display means, andcarries out processing for implementing the electronic pet by the imagedisplay means. The robot has transmission/reception means capable oftransmitting and receiving the internal state of the electronic pet,which is changed in accordance with input information and is informationfor causing the electronic pet to act, and a motion section for movingin the real world, and controls the motion section to carry outprocessing for implementing the electronic pet as an existence in thereal world.

With such an electronic pet system, the internal state of the electronicpet is changed in accordance with input information andtransmission/reception of the internal state is carried out between theinformation processing device and the robot which cause the electronicpet to act on the basis of the internal state. The informationprocessing device acts on the basis of the internal state sent from therobot, and the robot acts on the basis of the internal state sent fromthe information processing device.

Also, an electronic pet system according to the present invention has aninformation processing device and a robot. The information processingdevice has radio transmission/reception means capable ofradio-transmitting and receiving the internal state of an electronicpet, which is changed in accordance with input information and isinformation for causing the electronic pet to act, and image displaymeans, and carries out processing for implementing the electronic pet bythe image display means. The robot has radio transmission/receptionmeans capable of radio-transmitting and receiving the internal state ofthe electronic pet, which is changed in accordance with inputinformation and is information for causing the electronic pet to act,and a motion section for moving in the real world, and controls themotion section to carry out processing for implementing the electronicpet as an existence in the real world.

With such an electronic pet system, the internal state of the electronicpet is changed in accordance with input information and radiotransmission/reception of the internal state is carried out between theinformation processing device and the robot which cause the electronicpet to act on the basis of the internal state. The informationprocessing device acts on the basis of the internal state sent from therobot, and the robot acts on the basis of the internal state sent fromthe information processing device.

A network system according to the present invention has one or moreimplementation devices and a server device. The implementation devicehas transmission/reception means capable of transmitting and receivingthe internal state of a living body object, which is changed inaccordance with input information and is information for causing theliving body object to act, and the identification information of theliving body object, thus implementing the living body object. The serverdevice has management means for managing the internal state of theliving body object and the identification information of the living bodyobject, and transmission/reception means capable oftransmitting/receiving at least the internal state and theidentification information. The implementation devices and the serverdevice are connected with each other via a network.

With such a network system, the living body object in the implementationdevice has its internal state and identification information managed bythe server device.

Also, a network system according to the present invention has animplementation device and an information processing device. Theimplementation device has transmission/reception means capable oftransmitting and receiving the internal state of a living body object,which is changed in accordance with input information and is informationfor causing the living body object to act, thus implementing the livingbody object. The information processing device hastransmission/reception means capable of transmitting and receiving theinternal state of the living body object, controls the action of theliving body object acting in a virtual world on the basis of theinternal state of the living body object, and carries out processing fordisplaying at least the virtual world and the living body object.

With such a network system, the internal state of the living body objectin the implementation device, which is changed in accordance with inputinformation and is information for causing occurrence of an action, istransferred to the information processing device, which carries outprocessing for displaying at least the virtual world and the living bodyobject.

A robot according to the present invention is adapted for storing theinternal state of a living body object, which is changed in accordancewith input information and is information for causing the living bodyobject to act, and for controlling a motion section to carry outprocessing for implementing the living body object as an existence inthe real world. The robot transfers at least the internal state to aninformation processing device, which controls the action of a livingbody object acting in a virtual world on the basis of the internal stateof the living body object in the robot and carries out processing fordisplaying at least the virtual world and the living body object.

Such a robot transfers the internal state, which is changed inaccordance with input information and is information for causingoccurrence of an action, to the information processing device, whichcarries out processing for displaying at least the virtual world and theliving body object.

A storage medium according to the present invention is adapted forstoring data usable in an information processing device and can beinserted to/ejected from a slot provided in the information processingdevice. The storage medium has indication means for indicating anaccurate loading position when loaded in the slot of the informationprocessing device.

Thus, the user loads the storage medium into the slot of the informationprocessing device with reference to the indication means.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall structure of an embodimentof an electronic pet system to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 shows a more specific exemplary structure of the electronic petsystem.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an exemplary structure of a bodysection of the electronic pet system.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an exemplary hardware structure of avirtual electronic pet device.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing an exemplary hardware structure of apet-type robot.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing the specific structure of theappearance of the pet-type robot.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing the more specific circuit structure ofthe pet-type robot.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing the structure of a controller.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing the structure of an emotion/instinctmodel section.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing a group of emotions in theemotion/instinct model section.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing the structure of an emotion/instinctmodel section having strength increasing/decreasing means.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing the structure of an action decisionmechanism section and the like used for explaining generation of actioncommand information.

FIG. 13 shows the state transition of a finite probability automaton ofan action model.

FIG. 14 shows a state transition table.

FIG. 15 shows a graph of posture transition in a posture transitionmechanism section.

FIG. 16 shows a specific example of the posture transition graph.

FIG. 17 is a perspective view showing the schematic structure of apet-type robot.

FIGS. 18A and 18B are views for explaining the transition of the posturebetween the entire body and respective portions on the basis of a basicposture.

FIG. 19 is a view for explaining the execution of a target motion aftertemporary transition to the basic posture in the case where the currentposture resides in the entire body and the target motion resides in aportion.

FIG. 20 is a view for explaining the execution of a target motion aftertemporary transition to the basic posture in the case where the currentposture resides in a portion and the target motion resides in the entirebody.

FIG. 21 shows pet characteristic information stored in an individualinformation storage section (IC card).

FIG. 22 is a view for explaining an IC card discriminated by color.

FIG. 23 is a view for explaining a stick-shaped IC card discriminated bycolor and having an arrow mark appended thereto.

FIG. 24 is a view for explaining a stick-shaped IC card discriminated bycolor and having a line appended thereto indicating the boundaryposition.

FIG. 25 is a view for explaining a stick-shaped IC card which isaccurately loaded in a slot.

FIG. 26 is a view for explaining an exemplary label put on thestick-shaped IC card.

FIGS. 27A and 27B show the bottom side and the lateral side of thestick-shaped IC card.

FIG. 28 shows an example of connection of a second embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 29 is a block diagram showing the hardware structure of anessential portion of a pet-type robot of the second embodiment.

FIG. 30 is a front view showing the appearance of a virtual electronicpet device of the second embodiment.

FIG. 31 is a block diagram showing the hardware structure of anessential portion of the virtual electronic pet device of the secondembodiment.

FIG. 32 is a block diagram showing an example of connection in which thevirtual electronic pet device and the pet-type robot are connected witheach other by a USB cable.

FIG. 33 is a block diagram showing an example of connection in which thevirtual electronic pet device and the pet-type robot are connected witheach other by infrared rays.

FIG. 34 is a block diagram showing an example of connection in which thevirtual electronic pet device and the pet-type robot are connected witheach other by radio waves.

FIG. 35 is a block diagram showing an example of connection in which thevirtual electronic pet device and the pet-type robot are connected witheach other by a Bluetooth module.

FIG. 36 is a block diagram showing an example of connection in which thepet-type robot and a personal computer are connected with each other bya USB cable and in which the personal computer is connected to theInternet.

FIG. 37 is a block diagram showing an example of connection in which thepet-type robot and a personal computer are connected with each other byinfrared rays and in which the personal computer is connected to theInternet.

FIG. 38 is a block diagram showing an example of connection in which thepet-type robot and a personal computer are connected with each other byradio waves and in which the personal computer is connected to theInternet.

FIG. 39 is a block diagram showing an example of connection in which thepet-type robot and a personal computer are connected with each other bya Bluetooth module and in which the personal computer is connected tothe Internet.

FIG. 40 shows the flow of transfer of pet characteristic informationfrom the virtual electronic pet device to the pet-type robot.

FIG. 41 shows the flow of transfer of pet characteristic informationfrom the pet-type robot to the virtual electronic pet device.

FIG. 42 shows the flow in the case where transfer of pet characteristicinformation is not carried out between the pet-type robot and thevirtual electronic pet device.

FIG. 43 shows the data format of a connection request signal, aconnection permission signal, and a reception end signal.

FIG. 44 shows an exemplary system structure of the case of managing theelectronic pet by a pet shared server.

FIG. 45 is a block diagram showing an exemplary hardware structure ofthe pet-type robot and the virtual electronic pet device in the systemstructure for managing the electronic pet by the shared server.

FIG. 46 is a view for explaining a specific example of the case ofleaving the electronic pet to the shared server and the case ofreceiving the electronic pet from the shared server.

FIG. 47 conceptually shows an example in which the electronic pet and anavatar of the user exist in a virtual world.

FIG. 48 is a block diagram showing an exemplary hardware structure ofthe pet-type robot and the virtual electronic pet device in the systemstructure for managing the electronic pet by the shared server, andshowing the state where the pet-type robot and the virtual electronicpet device are connected to the Internet by a Bluetooth module.

FIG. 49 is a block diagram showing the detailed structure of the systemin the case where the electronic pet and the avatar of the user exist inthe virtual world.

FIG. 50 is a block diagram showing an exemplary structure of a client PCused for the system of FIG. 49.

FIG. 51 is a view for explaining the flow of processing from thebrowsing of a home page of a web site which provides VRML contents, tothe downloading of VRML to the client PC, in the system of FIG. 49.

FIG. 52 is a view for explaining the flow of processing frominterpretation and execution of a VRML2.0 file by the client PC to theinquiry of the URL of the shared server, in the system of FIG. 49.

FIG. 53 is a view for explaining the flow of processing in which aplurality of client PCs receive data related to a three-dimensionalobject via the shared server and realize a multi-user environment.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described indetail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the overall structure of an electronic pet system as afirst embodiment of the present invention. (On this specification, thesystem means a logical collection of a plurality of devices, regardlessof whether the respective devices are included in the same casing ornot.)

The electronic pet system has an individual information storage section1 and a body section 2, as shown in FIG. 1.

For example, an animal as a living body is considered to be made up ofthe flesh and the soul residing in the flesh and controlling thepsychological function. The individual information storage section 1 ofthe electronic pet system is equivalent to such a soul of the animal andis constituted as hardware in the electronic pet. The body section 2 isequivalent to such a flesh and is constituted as software in theelectronic pet.

Specifically, the individual information storage section 1, whichexpresses the characteristics (emotions and physical characteristics) ofthe electronic pet, can be said to function as the soul of theelectronic pet. The body section 2, which expresses the actions of theelectronic pets, can be said to function for implementing thesubstantial or virtual flesh of the electronic pet and representing thereal actions with the substantial or virtual flesh. The actions of thebody section 2 are carried out on the basis of the characteristics ofthe electronic pet held by the individual information storage section 1.Therefore, the individual information storage section 1 can be said tobe the core of the electronic pet.

The individual information storage section 1 can be extracted from thebody section 2 and can also be provided (to reside) in other bodysections 2 ₁, 2 ₂, . . . In this case, the body section 2 in which theindividual information storage section 1 is not provided does notfunction as an electronic pet. The electronic pet of this case is in aso-called cast-off state.

On the other hand, the other body sections in which the individualinformation storage section 1 is provided starts to function aselectronic pets having the original characteristics. That is, the soulof the electronic pet can switch from one flesh to another.

FIG. 2 shows a more specific exemplary structure of the electronic petsystem of FIG. 1.

The individual information storage section 1 of FIG. 1 is expressed by,for example, an IC (integrated circuit) card 21. The IC card 21 containsa stamp flash memory or the like and stores the quantity ofcharacteristics of instincts and emotions of the electronic pet and theconstitutional information of the body section as will be describedlater (hereinafter referred to as pet characteristic information).

The body section 2 of FIG. 1 is realized by, for example, a virtualelectronic pet device 22 or a pet-type robot 23. The virtual electronicpet device 22 is constituted by a portable information processing devicefor carrying out processing for displaying a virtual electronic pet, andhas a slot 22A for loading the IC card 21 therein. The pet-type robot 23is a robot having the shape of an electronic pet and also has a slot 23Afor loading the IC card 21 therein. Although a quadrupedal robot is usedas an example of the pet-type robot in the embodiments of the presentinvention, the form of the robot is not particularly limited and variousarbitrary forms can be employed such as a bipedal robot, a robot havingwings, a robot having wheels, a robot with no limb, and combination ormodification of various parts. The present invention is applicable torobots of various forms.

Both the virtual electronic pet device 22 and the pet-type robot 23 aredevices which function as the body section of the electronic pet and donot take any action by themselves. Specifically, as the IC card 21 isloaded therein, the virtual electronic pet device 22 and the pet-typerobot 23 function as electronic pets. In the case of the virtualelectronic pet device 22, an electronic pet is displayed on its monitorand the electronic pet displayed on the monitor takes an action based onthe pet characteristic information stored on the IC card 21. Similarly,the pet-type robot 23 takes an action based on the pet characteristicinformation stored on the IC card 21.

With such an electronic pet system, the user at home can enjoy thefeeling close to the feeling of actually keeping a pet by loading the ICcard 21 into the slot 23A of the pet-type robot 23. When the user goeson a trip, the user can easily carry the electronic pet to thedestination by detaching the IC card 21 from the pet-type robot 23 andloading the IC card 21 into the virtual electronic pet device 22.

FIG. 3 shows an exemplary electrical structure of the body section 2 ofFIG. 1. The body section 2 is assumed to be the virtual electronic petdevice 22 and the pet-type robot 23, which will be later describedfurther in detail.

An I/F (interface) 10 is equivalent to the slot 22A of the virtualelectronic pet device 22 or the slot 23A of the pet-type robot 23 ofFIG. 1, and functions as an interface for transmission of data betweenthe individual information storage section 1 and the body section 2.Specifically, the I/F 10 reads out information (pet characteristicinformation) expressing the characteristics of instincts and emotions ofthe electronic pet and the structure of the body section and suppliesthe information to an internal state calculation section 11. The I/F 10also writes the information obtained as a result of predeterminedcalculation at the internal state calculation section 11 to theindividual information storage section 1 and updates the storagecontents.

To the internal state calculation section 11, inputs from an externalinput section 12 and a time input section 13 are supplied as well as thepet characteristic information from the I/F 10 as described above.Moreover, specific actions of the electronic pet obtained by an actionconversion section 15 are fed back to the internal state calculationsection 11. The internal state calculation section 11 drives emotion andinstinct models stored in a model storage section 14 in accordance withthe input from the I/F 10, the external input section 12, the time inputsection 13, or the action conversion section 15, and updates theinternal state of the electronic pet. The internal state of theelectronic pet relates to the information of emotions and instinctsincluded in the pet characteristic information from the I/F 10, as willbe described later, and the updated internal state is written to theindividual information storage section 1 via the I/F 10. The internalstate calculation section 11 also decides a motion (conceptual motion)to be made by the electronic pet, and outputs a command (motion command)instructing the execution of that motion (conceptual motion) to theaction conversion section 15, which carries out control to output thereal action.

The external input section 12 supplies stimuli given by the user or fromthe external environment to the internal state calculation section 11.

In the case where the body section 2 is the virtual electronic petdevice 22, the external input section 12 is constituted by a keyboard(or switches and buttons), a microphone, and a voice recognition device.The external input section 12 changes an operation or a speech made bythe user for taking care of the electronic pet, into an electric signal,and supplies the electric signal to the internal state calculationsection 11.

On the other hand, in the case where the body section 2 is the pet-typerobot 23, the external input section 12 is constituted by a keyboard, amicrophone, a voice recognition device, a photoelectric conversionelement, an image recognition device, and a sensor (e.g., a temperaturesensor). The external input section 12 changes an operation or a speechmade by the user for taking care of the electronic pet, into an electricsignal, and supplies the electric signal to the internal statecalculation section 11. The external input section 12 also suppliesinformation about surrounding objects and temperature to the internalstate calculation section 11.

The time input section 13 keeps time (including the year, month and day)and supplies the time (current time) to the internal state calculationsection 11.

The model storage section 14 stores models of emotions and instincts(emotion/instinct models) of the electronic pet. As the emotions of theelectronic pet, for example, joy, sadness, anger, surprise, fear, andhatred are set, and the model storage section 14 stores a model of theseemotions (e.g., computational formulas for finding parameters expressingthese emotions). As the instincts of the electronic pet, for example,movement instinct, love instinct, recharge instinct, and search instinctare set, and the model storage section 14 stores a model of theseinstincts. The internal state of the electronic pet is constituted bythe state of emotion and the state of instinct.

The body section 2 has the emotion and instinct models of the samestructure, irrespective of whether it is the virtual electronic petdevice 22 or the pet-type robot 23. Thus, even when the IC card 21 isexchanged between the virtual electronic pet device 22 and the pet-typerobot 23, the characteristics and actions of the electronic pet are notchanged to those of different electronic pets.

The action conversion section 15 converts a conceptual motion commandfrom the internal state calculation section 11 to a command (actioncommand) instructing a specific action (such as an action, motion, orposture). The action conversion section 15 supplies the command to anoutput section 16 and also supplies the command to the internal statecalculation section 11 as a feedback.

The output section 16 makes an output in accordance with the actioncommand from the action conversion section 15. Specifically, the outputsection 16 causes the electronic pet to take the action in accordancewith the action command from the action conversion section 15.

In the case where the body section 2 is the virtual electronic petdevice 22, the output section 16 is constituted by a monitor, a voicesynthesizer (e.g., a rule-based voice synthesizer), and a speaker. Thus,the output of the output section 16 changes the display of theelectronic pet and outputs a voice.

On the other hand, in the case where the body section 2 is the pet-typerobot 23, the output section 16 is constituted by motion sections suchas motors for driving members corresponding to the limbs, trunk, headand tail, and a voice synthesizer and a speaker. Thus, the output of theoutput section 16 rotates a predetermined motor and outputs a voice.

The structure of the virtual electronic pet device 22 and the pet-typerobot 23 will be described using a more specific example. FIG. 4 showsan exemplary hardware structure of the virtual electronic pet device 22.

A CPU (central processing unit) 31 is adapted for carrying out varioustypes of processing in accordance with a program stored in a ROM (readonly memory) 32. A timer circuit 31A counts a clock, not shown, andgenerates a timer interruption for every predetermined unit time (e.g.,100 ms) to the CPU 31 on the basis of the count value.

The ROM 32 stores a program to be executed by the CPU 31 and datanecessary for the execution of the program. A RAM (random access memory)33 stores data necessary for the operation of the CPU 31.

An I/F 34 functions as an interface between the CPU 31 on one hand andan A/D converter 36, an operation section 37, an IC card connector 38, aD/A converter 39 and a liquid crystal controller 41 on the other.

Of the above-mentioned sections, the CPU 31, the ROM 32, the RAM 33 andthe I/F 34 are interconnected via a bus (address bus or data bus).

A microphone 35 converts a sound inputted thereto (e.g., a whistle soundor the like) to an audio signal as an analog electric signal andsupplies the audio signal to the A/D converter 36. The A/D converter 36carries out A/D conversion of the analog audio signal from themicrophone and outputs the resultant digital audio signal to the CPU 31via the I/F 34.

In the case where the CPU 31 has thus received the audio signal, the CPU31 carries out linear prediction analysis of the audio signal so as toextract the characteristic quantity, and carries out voice recognitionbased on an HMM (hidden Markov model) method. A program to be executedby the CPU 31 for voice recognition and word models as the objects ofvoice recognition are stored, for example, in the ROM 32. In this case,as the word models to be the objects of voice recognition, particularlythe words models used by the keeper to talk to the pet are stored. Thewords to be stored include “Hey”, “Good boy”, “Good morning”, “Goodnight”, “Paw”, “Sit”, “What are you doing?” and the like.

The method of acoustic analysis is not limited to the linear predictionanalysis, and the method of voice recognition is not limited to the HMMmethod.

The operation section 37 is constituted by various buttons and keys andsupplies a signal corresponding to the operation from the user to theCPU 31 via the I/F 34. Thus, the CPU 31 can recognize the buttons andkeys operated by the user. The operation section 37 has buttons forproviding various inputs to the electronic pets such as a “scold”button, which is operated for scolding the electronic pet, a “praise”button, which is operated for praising the electronic pet, a “greeting”button corresponding to saying “Good morning” or “Good night”, and a“paw” button and a “sit” button, which are operated for instructing theelectronic pet to raise the paw or to sit as a performance.

The IC card connector 38 is provided in the slot 22A of the virtualelectronic pet device 22 (FIG. 2), and is adapted for electricallyconnecting the IC card 21 with the CPU 31 via the I/F 34 when the ICcard 21 is loaded in the slot 22A. In this case, the CPU 31 reads datafrom and writes data to the IC card 21 via the I/F 34 and the IC cardconnector 38. The CPU 31 can also detect the loading of the IC card 21.

The D/A converter 39 carries out D/A conversion of the digital audiosignal supplied from the CPU 31 via the I/F 34 and supplies theresultant analog audio signal to a speaker 40. The speaker 40 containsan amplifier to amplify the audio signal from the D/A converter 39 andto output the amplified audio signal. The CPU 31 generates a voice ofthe electronic pet or other necessary sounds by voice synthesis, ifnecessary, and outputs the synthesized sound to the D/A converter 39 viathe I/F 34. A program for carrying out voice synthesis and datanecessary for voice synthesis are stored, for example, in the ROM 32.

The liquid crystal controller 41 is controlled by the CPU 31 via the I/F34 and displays various images (e.g., an image of the electronic pet)and characters on a liquid crystal display section 42. The liquidcrystal display section 42 displays images and characters under thecontrol of the liquid crystal controller 41. The ROM 32 stores a programfor displaying images and characters on the liquid crystal displaysection 42 by controlling the liquid crystal controller 41, and the CPU31 executes this program, thus displaying images and characters on theliquid crystal display section 42.

The foregoing is the exemplary hardware structure of the virtualelectronic pet device 22. An exemplary hardware structure of thepet-type robot 23 will now be described. The exemplary hardwarestructure of the pet-type robot 23 is as shown in FIG. 5.

In FIG. 5, the portions corresponding to those of the virtual electronicpet device 22 of FIG. 4 are denoted by the same numerals. Specifically,the pet-type robot 23 has basically the same structure as the virtualelectronic pet device 22, except for a motor 51 and a driving mechanism52 provided in place of the liquid crystal controller 41 and the liquidcrystal display section 42.

The motor 51 is controlled by the CPU 31 via the I/F 34 and is adaptedfor driving the driving mechanism 52. The driving mechanism 52constitutes, for example, the head, limbs, trunk or tail as moving partsof the pet-type robot 23 and is driven by the motor 51.

The I/F 34 and the IC card connector 38 of FIGS. 4 and 5 correspond tothe I/F 10 of FIG. 3, and the CPU 31 and the ROM 32 of FIGS. 4 and 5correspond to the internal state calculation section 11 and the actionconversion section 15 of FIG. 3. The microphone 35, the A/D converter 36and the operation section 37 of FIGS. 4 and 5 correspond to the externalinput section 12 of FIG. 3. The timer circuit 31A of FIGS. 4 and 5corresponds to the time input section 13 of FIG. 3, and the ROM 32 ofFIGS. 4 and 5 corresponds to the model storage section 14 of FIG. 3.Moreover, the D/A converter 39 and the speaker 40 of FIGS. 4 and 5, theliquid crystal controller 41 and the liquid crystal display section 42of FIG. 4, or the motor 51 and the driving mechanism 52 of FIG. 5correspond to the output section 16 of FIG. 3.

The pet-type robot 23 will be described further in detail. The overallshape (appearance) of the pet-type robot 23 is constituted by coupling ahead portion 61 corresponding to the head, a trunk portion 62corresponding to the trunk, limb portions 63A, 63B, 63C and 63Dcorresponding to the four limbs, and a tail portion 64 corresponding tothe tail, as shown in FIG. 6. The pet-type robot 23 of such a structuremoves the head portion 61, the limb portions 63A to 63D, and the tailportion 64 with respect to the trunk portion 62, thus moving like a realquadrupedal animal. The pet-type robot 23 has the slot for loading theIC card 21, though not shown.

On the head portion 61, an image recognition section 71 made up of a CCD(charge coupled device) camera corresponding to the eyes for picking upan image, a microphone 72 corresponding to the ears for picking up asound, and a speaker 73 corresponding to the mouth for generating asound are attached at predetermined positions, as shown in FIG. 7. Also,on the head portion 61, a remote controller receiving section 74 forreceiving a command transmitted from the user via a remote controller(not shown), a touch sensor 75 for detecting the tough by the user'shand or the like, and a LED (light-emitting diode) 76 made up oflight-emitting means are attached.

On the trunk portion 62, a battery 77 is attached at a positioncorresponding to the abdomen, and an electronic circuit (not shown) forcontrolling the operation of the entire pet-type robot 23 is housedinside the trunk portion 62.

Joint portions of the limb portions 63A to 63D, coupling portionsbetween the limb portions 63A to 63D and the trunk portion 62, acoupling portion between the trunk portion 62 and the head portion 61,and a coupling portion between the trunk portion 62 and the tail portion64 are coupled by their respective actuators 78A to 78N and are drivenunder the control of the electronic circuit housed inside the trunkportion 62. By thus driving the actuators 78A to 78N, the pet-type robot23 moves like a real quadrupedal animal, for example, shakes the headportion 61 vertically and horizontally, wags the tail portion 64, andmoves the limb portions 63A to 63D to walk or run.

Such a pet-type robot 23 changes the internal state such as emotions andinstincts on the basis of input information like circumferentialinformation and internal information (e.g., information of the remainingcapacity of the battery). The internal state is stored on the IC card21.

The pet-type robot 23 controls the motion sections such as the headportion 61, the trunk portion 62, the limb portions 63A to 63D and thetail portion 64 (which are moved by the actuators 78A to 78N) on thebasis of the changed internal state, and thus realizes the electronicpet in the real world. The circuit structure of such a pet-type robot 23will now be described in detail with reference to FIG. 7.

The head portion 61 has a command receiving section 80 made up of themicrophone 72 and the remote controller receiving section 74, anexternal sensor 81 made up of the image recognition section 71 and thetough sensor 75, the speaker 73, and the LED 76. The trunk section 62has the battery 77, and also has therein a controller 82 for controllingthe operation of the entire pet-type robot 23, and an internal sensor 85made up of a battery sensor 83 for detecting the remaining capacity ofthe battery 77 and a heat sensor 84 for detecting the heat generatedwithin the pet-type robot 23. Moreover, the actuators 78A to 78N areprovided at predetermined positions in the pet-type robot 23.

The command receiving section 80 is adapted for receiving commands givento the pet-type robot 23 from the user such as “Walk”, “Down”, and“Chase the ball”, and is constituted by the microphone 72 and the remotecontroller receiving section 74.

The remote controller receiving section 74 receives a desired commandinputted by the user operating the remote controller (not shown). Forexample, the transmission of a command from the remote controller iscarried out using an infrared ray. The remote controller receivingsection 74 receives this infrared ray to generate a received signal S1Aand sends it to the controller 82.

The remote controller is not limited to the one using infrared rays butmay also be adapted for giving a command to the pet-type robot 23 byusing the musical scale. In such a case, the pet-type robot 23 carriesout processing corresponding to the musical scale from the remotecontroller inputted from the microphone 72.

When the user generates a voice in accordance with a desired command,the microphone 72 picks up the voice generated by the user to generatean audio signal S1B and sends it to the controller 82.

The command receiving section 80 thus generates a command signal S1 madeup of the received signal S1A and the audio signal S1B in accordancewith the command given to the pet-type robot 23 from the user, andsupplies the command signal S1 to the controller 82.

The touch sensor 75 of the external sensor 81 is adapted for detectingthe approach from the user to the pet-type robot 23, for example, “pat”,“slap” and the like. For example, when the user touches the touch sensor75 and takes a desired manner of approach, the touch sensor 75 generatesa touch detection signal S2A corresponding to that approach and sends itto the controller 82.

The image recognition section 71 of the external sensor 81 is adaptedfor detecting the environment information around the pet-type robot 23such as “dark” or “there is my favorite toy”, or the motion of otherrobot devices such as “another robot is running”, as a result ofidentifying the environment around the pet-type robot 23. This imagerecognition section 71 sends an image signal S2B obtained as a result ofpicking up the image of the surroundings, to the controller 82.

The external sensor 81 thus generates an external information signal S2made up of the touch detection signal S2A and the image signal S2B inaccordance with the external information provided from outside thepet-type robot 23, and sends the external information signal S2 to thecontroller 82.

The internal sensor 85 is adapted for detecting the internal informationof the pet-type robot 23 itself, for example, “I'm hungry”, which meansthe battery capacity is lowered, “I have a fever” and the like. Theinternal sensor 85 is constituted by the battery sensor 83 and the heatsensor 84.

The battery sensor 83 is adapted for detecting the remaining capacity ofthe battery 77, which supplies the power to each circuit of the pet-typerobot 23. This battery sensor 83 sends a battery capacity detectionsignal S3A as a result of detection to the controller 82.

The heat sensor 84 is adapted for detecting the heat within the pet-typerobot 23. This heat sensor 84 sends a heat detection signal S3B as aresult of detection to the controller 82.

The internal sensor 85 thus generates an internal information signal S3made up of the battery capacity detection signal S3A and the heatdetection signal S3B in accordance with the internal information of thepet-type robot 23, and sends it to the controller 82.

The image recognition 71, the microphone 72, the remote controllerreceiving section 74, the touch sensor 75 and the like shown in FIG. 7correspond to the external input section 12 shown in FIG. 3. Theactuators 78A to 78N shown in FIG. 7 correspond to the output section 16shown in FIG. 3. As a matter of course, the constituent parts that arenot shown in FIG. 7 but shown in FIG. 3 or FIG. 5 may also be providedas the constituent parts of the pet-type robot 23 of FIG. 7. Forexample, the constituent part such as the time input section 13 may beprovided.

The controller 82 generates control signals S5A to S5N for driving theactuators 78A to 78N on the basis of the input information, that is, thecommand signal S1 supplied from the command receiving section 80, theexternal information signal S2 supplied from the external sensor 81 andthe internal information signal S3 supplied from the internal sensor 85,and sends these control signals to drive the actuators 78A to 78N, thusoperating the pet-type robot 23.

The controller 82 generates an audio signal S10 or a light-emittingsignal 11 to be outputted to the outside, if necessary, and outputs theaudio signal S10 to the outside via the speaker 73 or sends thelight-emitting signal S11 to the LED 76 to carry out desiredlight-emitting output (e.g., flashing or changing the color), thusnotifying the user of the necessary information. For example, by thelight-emitting output, the controller 82 notifies the user of theemotion of the electronic pet. An image display section for displayingan image can be provided in place of the LED 76. Thus, it is possible tonotify the user of the necessary information like the emotion bydisplaying a desired image. The processing at the controller 82 will nowbe described in detail.

The controller 82 carries out software-like data processing on thecommand signal S1 supplied from the command receiving section 80, theexternal information signal S2 supplied from the external sensor 81 andthe internal information signal S3 supplied from the internal sensor 85on the basis of a program stored in advance in a predetermined storagearea, and supplies control signals S5 obtained as a result to theactuators 78A to 78N. The actuators 78A to 78N operate on the basis ofthe control signals S5A, S5B, . . . , S5N.

As shown in FIG. 8, the contents of the data processing at thecontroller 82 are functionally classified into an emotion/instinct modelsection 90 as emotion/instinct model change means, an action decisionmechanism section 91 as motion decision means, a posture transitionmechanism section 92 as posture transition means, and a controlmechanism section 93. The command signal S1, the external informationsignal S2 and the internal information signal S3 supplied from outsideare inputted to the emotion/instinct model section 90 and the actiondecision mechanism section 91. These sections roughly function asfollows.

The emotion/instinct model section 90 decides the state of emotions andinstincts on the basis of the command signal S1, the externalinformation signal S2 and the internal information signal S3. The actiondecision mechanism section 91 decides the next motion (action) on thebasis of the emotion/instinct state information S10 obtained by theemotion/instinct model section 90 in addition to the command signal S1,the external information signal S2 and the internal information signalS3, and the posture transition mechanism section 92 on the subsequentstage makes a posture transition plan for shifting to the next motion(action) decided by the action decision mechanism section 91. Theinformation of the motion (action) decided by the action decisionmechanism section 91 is fed back to the emotion/instinct model section90, and the emotion/instinct model section 90 decides the state ofemotions and instincts with reference to the decided motion (action).That is, the emotion/instinct model section 90 decides the instinct andemotion also with reference to the motion (action) result.

The control mechanism section 93 controls each motion section inaccordance with the posture transition information S18 sent on the basisof the posture transition plan from the posture transition mechanismsection 92, then actually shifts the posture, and then actually carriesout the next motion (action) decided by the action decision mechanismsection 91.

That is, using the above-described controller 82, the pet-type robot 23decides the next motion (action) on the basis of the emotions andinstincts, then makes the transition plan for realizing the posture toenable execution of such a motion (action), then shifts the posture onthe basis of the transition plan, and actually executes the motion(action) decided on the basis of such emotions and instincts.

The function of the model storage section 14 for emotions and instinctsand the internal state calculation section 11 shown in FIG. 3 isrealized by the emotion/instinct model section 90 shown in FIG. 8, andthe function of the action conversion section 15 shown in FIG. 3 isrealized by the action decision mechanism section 91, the posturetransition mechanism section 92 and the control mechanism section 93shown in FIG. 8. The constituent parts of the above-described controller82 will now be described.

The emotion/instinct model section 90 generally has a group of emotions100 constituting the emotion model, and a group of instincts 101constituting the instinct model prepared as a model with differentattributes from those of the emotion model, as shown in FIG. 9.

In this case, the emotion model is a model which is constituted byemotion parameters having certain values and adapted for expressing theemotion prescribed for the robot device by means of a motioncorresponding to the values of the emotion parameters.

The emotion parameters have their values increased or decreased mainlyin accordance with an external input signal (circumferential informationor external element) indicating “being slapped” or “being scolded”detected by a sensor like a pressure sensor or a visual sensor. Ofcourse, in some cases, the emotion parameters may be changed inaccordance with an internal input signal (internal information orinternal element) such as the remaining capacity of the battery or thetemperature within the body. Also, the emotion parameters are changedsimply with the lapse of time.

The instinct model is a model which is constituted by instinctparameters having certain values and adapted for expressing the instinct(desire) prescribed for the robot device by means of a motioncorresponding to the values of the instinct parameters. The instinctparameters have their values increased or decreased mainly in accordancewith an internal input signal indicating “I want to move” based on theaction record or “I need recharge (I'm hungry)” based on the remainingcapacity of the battery. Of course, similar to the emotion parameters,the instinct parameters may be changed in accordance with an externalinput signal. Also, the instinct parameters are changed simply with thelapse of time.

The emotion model and the instinct model are constituted by a pluralityof types of models having the same attributes, respectively.Specifically, the group of emotions 100 has emotion units 100A to 100Fas independent emotion models having the same attribute, and the groupof instincts 101 has instinct units 101A to 101D as independent instinctmodels having the same attribute.

The group of emotions 100 has the emotion unit 100A expressing theemotion of “joy”, the emotion unit 100B expressing the emotion of“sadness”, the emotion unit 100C expressing the emotion of “anger”, theemotion unit 100E expressing the emotion of “surprise”, and the emotionunit 100F expressing the emotion of “hatred”.

The group of instincts 101 has the instinct unit 101A expressing the“movement instinct”, the instinct unit 101B expressing the “loveinstinct”, the instinct unit 101C expressing the “recharge instinct”,and the instinct unit 101D expressing the “search instinct”.

With respect to the emotion units 100A to 100F, the degree of theemotion is expressed by the strength (emotion parameter) of, forexample, 0 to 100, and the strength of the emotion is changed everymoment on the basis of the supplied command signal S1, externalinformation signal S2 and internal information signal S3. Thus, theemotion/instinct model 90 expresses the state of the emotion of thepet-type robot 23 by combining the strengths of the emotion units 100Ato 100F which are changed every moment, and thus forms a model ofemotional changes along the time.

Moreover, desired emotion units affect each other to change thestrength. For example, the emotion units are coupled in a mutuallysuppressive manner or in a mutually stimulative manner so as to affecteach other, thus changing the strength.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 10, if the emotion unit 100A of “joy” andthe emotion unit 100B of “sadness” are coupled in a mutually suppressivemanner, when the pet-type robot is praised by the user, the strength ofthe emotion unit 100A of “joy” is increased, and the strength of theemotion unit 100B of “sadness” is reduced in accordance with theincrease in the strength of the emotion unit 100A of “joy” even thoughthe input information S1 to S3 for changing the strength of the emotionunit 100B of “sadness” is not supplied. Similarly, when the strength ofthe emotion unit 100B of “sadness” is increased, the strength of theemotion unit 100A of “joy” is reduced in accordance with the increase inthe strength of the emotion unit 100B of “sadness”.

If the emotion unit 100B of “sadness” and the emotion unit 100C of“anger” are coupled in a mutually stimulative manner, when the pet-typerobot is slapped by the user, the strength of the emotion unit 100C of“anger” is increased, and the strength of the emotion unit 100B of“sadness” is increased in accordance with the increase in the strengthof the emotion unit 100C of “anger” even though the input information S1to S3 for changing the strength of the emotion unit 100B of “sadness” isnot supplied. Similarly, when the strength of the emotion unit 100B of“sadness” is increased, the strength of the emotion unit 100C of “anger”is increased in accordance with the increase in the strength of theemotion unit 100B of “sadness”.

As the desired emotion units thus affect each other to change thestrength, a change of the strength of one of the coupled emotion unitsleads to a change of the strength of the other emotion unit, thusrealizing the pet-type robot 23 having natural emotions.

With respect to the emotion units 101A to 101D, similar to the emotionunits 100A to 100F, the degree of the instinct is expressed by thestrength (instinct parameter) of, for example, 0 to 100, and thestrength of the instinct is changed every moment on the basis of thesupplied command signal S1, external information signal S2 and internalinformation signal S3. Thus, the emotion/instinct model 90 expresses thestate of the instinct of the pet-type robot 23 by combining thestrengths of the instinct units 101A to 101D which are changed everymoment, and thus forms a model of instinct changes along the time.

Moreover, similar to the case of coupling the emotion units, desiredinstinct units affect each other to change the strength. For example,the instinct units are coupled in a mutually suppressive manner or in amutually stimulative manner so as to affect each other, thus changingthe strength. Thus, when the strength of one of the coupled instinctunits is changed, the strength of the other instinct unit is changedaccordingly, and the pet-type robot 23 having natural instincts isrealized.

Furthermore, the units of the group of emotions 100 and the group ofinstincts 101 affect each other to change the strength. For example,changes of the strength of the instinct unit 101B expressing “loveinstinct” and the instinct unit 101C expressing “recharge instinct” ofthe group of instincts 101 affect changes of the strength of the emotionunit 100B expressing “sadness” and the emotion unit 100C expressing“anger” of the group of emotions 100. Thus, if the “love instinct” issatisfied, the emotion of “anger” and the emotion of “sadness” aresuppressed, and if the “recharge instinct” is not satisfied, the emotionof “anger” and the emotion of “sadness” are increased. With suchinteraction between emotions and instincts, it is possible to expressthe state where emotions and instincts affect one another complicatedly.

As is described above, the emotion/instinct model section 90 changes thestrength of the emotion units 100A to 100F and the instinct units 101Ato 101D, using the input information S1 to S3 consisting of the commandsignal S1, the external information signal S2 and the internalinformation signal S3, or the interaction between the emotion units ofthe group of emotions 100, the interaction between the instinct units ofthe group of instincts 101, and the interaction between the units of thegroup of emotions 100 and the group of instincts 101.

The emotion/instinct model section 90 decides the state of the emotionby combining the changed strengths of the emotion units 100A to 100F,and decides the state of the instinct by combining the changed strengthsof the instinct units 101A to 101D. The emotion/instinct model section90 then sends the decided state of the emotion and the decided state ofthe instinct as emotion/instinct state information S10 to the actiondecision mechanism section 91.

The emotion/instinct model section 90 is supplied with actioninformation S12 indicating the contents of the current or past action ofthe pet-type robot 23 itself from the action decision mechanism section91 on the subsequent stage. For example, in the case where an action ofwalking is decided by the action decision mechanism section 91, whichwill be described later, the action information S12 indicating that thepet-type robot “has walked for a long time” is supplied.

By thus feeding back the action information S12, differentemotion/instinct state information S10 can be generated in accordancewith the action of the pet-type robot 23 indicated by the actioninformation S12, even though the same input information S1 to S3 isprovided. Specifically, with the following structure, the actioninformation S12 that is fed back is referred to in deciding the state ofthe emotion and the state of the instinct.

As shown in FIG. 11, in the emotion/instinct model section 90, strengthincrease/decrease means 102A to 102C for generating strength informationS14A to S14C for increasing/decreasing the strengths of the emotionunits 100A to 100C on the basis of the action information S12 indicatingthe action of the pet-type robot 23 and the input information S1 to S3are provided on the stage prior to the emotion units 100A to 100C, andthe strengths of the emotion units 100A to 100C are increased/decreasedin accordance with the strength information S14A to S14C outputted fromthe strength increase/decrease means 102A to 102C.

For example, when the pet-type robot greets the user and is patted onthe head by the user, that is, when the action information S12indicating that the pet-type robot has greeted and the input informationS1 to S3 indicating that the pet-type robot is patted on the head aresupplied to the strength increase/decrease means 102A, theemotion/instinct model section 90 increases the strength of the emotionunit 100A of “joy”. On the other hand, when the pet-type robot which iscarrying out a certain task is patted on the head, that is, when theaction information S12 indicating that the pet-type robot is carryingout a task and the input information S1 to S3 indicating that thepet-type robot is patted on the head are supplied to the strengthincrease/decrease means 102A, the emotion/instinct model section 90 doesnot change the strength of the emotion unit 100A of “joy”. The strengthincrease/decrease means 102A is constituted, for example, as a functionor a table for generating the strength information S14A to S14C on thebasis of the action information S12 and the input information S1 to S3.The other strength increase/decrease means 102B and 102C are similarlyconstituted.

Thus, since the emotion/instinct model section 90 has the strengthincrease/decrease means 102A to 102C and decides the strengths of theemotion units 100A to 100C with reference to not only the inputinformation S1 to S3 but also the action information S12 indicating thecurrent or past action of the pet-type robot 23, it is possible to avoidoccurrence of an unnatural emotion such that the strength of the emotionunit 100A of “joy” is increased when the user pats the pet-type robot onthe head with a mischievous intention while the pet-type robot iscarrying out a certain task. Similarly, the emotion/instinct modelsection 90 also increases or decreases the strengths of the instinctunits 101A to 101C on the basis of the input information S1 to S3 andthe action information S12 supplied thereto.

In the present embodiment, the strength increase/decrease means 102A to102C are provided for the emotion units 100A to 100C of “joy”, “sadness”and “anger”. However, it is a matter of course that the presentinvention is not limited to such a structure and that strengthincrease/decrease means can also be provided for the other emotion units100D to 100F of “surprise”, “fear” and “hatred”.

As is described above, when the input information S1 to S3 and theaction information S12 are inputted, the strength increase/decreasemeans 102A to 102C generate and output the strength information S14A toS14C in accordance with a predetermined parameter. Therefore, by varyingthe value the parameter for each pet-type robot 23, the individualitysuch as being quick-tempered or cheerful can be provided for the robot.

The processing at the action decision mechanism section 91 will now bedescribed. Specifically, the action decision mechanism section 91decides the next motion (action) on the basis of various types ofinformation in cooperation with a selection module 94 shown in FIG. 12.The action decision mechanism section 91 is supplied with informationS14 consisting of the command signal S1, the external information signalS2, the internal information signal S3, the emotion/instinct stateinformation S10 and the action information S12, as shown in FIG. 8, anddecides the next motion (action) on the basis of this information S14.

The action decision mechanism section 91 holds a plurality of actionmodels such as “the first action model (action model 1)”, “the secondaction model (action model 2)”, “the third action model (action model3)”, “the fourth action model (action model 4)”, . . . , “the n-thaction model (action model n, where n is an integer)”, as shown in FIG.12. For example, the action models are models for deciding the action ineach scene such as “the case where the remaining capacity of the batteryis reduced”, “the case of recovering from falling”, “the case ofavoiding an obstacle”, and “the case where a ball is detected”. That is,when certain information is inputted, an action model (or a plurality ofaction models) specified for the input information reacts to it and theaction model that has thus reacted decides the next action.

Then, the results of decision by the first to n-th action models on thebasis of the information S14 are outputted to selection module 94.

As a technique for deciding the next action, the first to n-th actionmodels use an algorithm which is called a finite probability automatonfor deciding the transition that should be made from one node (state)NODE0 to NODEn to another node NODE0 to NODEn as shown in FIG. 13 interms of the probability on the basis of the transition probabilities P1to Pn set for arcs ARC1 to ARCn connecting the respective nodes NODE0 toNODEn.

Specifically, the first to n-th action models have a state transitiontable 95 as shown in FIG. 14 for each of the nodes NODE0 to NODEn,corresponding to the node NODE0 to NODEn constituting the action modelsthemselves.

In the state transition table 95, input events (recognition result) asthe transition conditions in the nodes NODE0 to NODEn are listed in apreferential order in the row of “name of input event”, and furtherconditions with respect to the transition conditions are described inthe columns corresponding to the rows of “name of data” and “range ofdata”.

In the node NODE100 shown in the state transition table 95 of FIG. 14,the conditions for transition to another node include that when therecognition result (information S14) to the effect that “a ball isdetected (BALL)” is provided, the “size (SIZE)” of the ball providedtogether with the recognition result or as the recognition result iswithin the range of “0 to 1000”, or that when the recognition result tothe effect that “an obstacle is detected (OBSTACLE)” is provided, the“distance (DISTANCE)” to the obstacle provided together with therecognition result is within the range of “0 to 100”.

In this node NODE100, the node as the destination of transition isselected also with reference to whether the strength of a desired unitexceeds a predetermined threshold value or not, of the strengths of theemotion units 100A to 100F and the instinct units 101A to 101D indicatedby the emotion/instinct state information S10 supplied as therecognition result (information S14) from the emotion/instinct modelsection 90. Thus, even when the same command signal S1 is inputted,transition to different nodes is made depending on the strengths of theemotion units 100A to 100F and the instinct units 101A to 101D.

In this node NODE100, even in the case where there is no input of therecognition result (information S14), transition to another node can bemade when the parameter value of any of “joy (JOY)”, “surprise(SURPRISE)” and “sadness (SADNESS)” held by the emotion models is withinthe range of “50 to 100”, of the parameter values of the emotions andinstincts held by the emotion/instinct model section 90.

In the state transition table 95, the names of nodes to which transitionfrom the node NODE0 to NODEn can be made are listed in the column of“transition destination node” in the section of “probability oftransition to another node”, and the probabilities of transition toanother node NODE0 to NODEn that can be made when all the conditionsdescribed in the rows of “name of input event”, “name of data” and“range of data” are met are described in the corresponding spaces withinthe section of “probability of transition to another node”. Also, theactions to be outputted in transition to the nodes NODE0 to NODEn aredescribed in the row of “output action” in the section of “probabilityof transition to another node”. The sum of the probabilities describedin the respective rows in the section of “probability of transition toanother node” is 100 [%]. The probability of transition may be changed.For example, the probability of transition is changed by the learningfunction. Thus, the pet-type robot 23 changes the probability oftransition in accordance with the result of learning and thereforeobtains individuality with respect to the decision of the action. Forexample, the probability of transition, which is the characteristic ofthe pet-type robot 23, is stored as the pet characteristic informationinto the individual information storage section 1 (IC card 21).

In the node NODE100 shown in the state transition table 95 of FIG. 14,for example, when the recognition result (information S14) to the effectthat “the ball is detected (BALL)” and that the “size (SIZE)” of theball is within the range of “0 to 100” is provided, transition to “nodeNODE120 (node 120)” can be made with the probability of “30%”, and thenthe action of “ACTION1” is outputted.

With such action models, for example, when it is detected on the basisof the supplied external information S2 that the palm is presented infront of the pet-type robot, and it is detected on the basis of theemotion/instinct state information S10 that the strength of the motionunit 100C of “anger” is not higher than a predetermined threshold value,and it is detected on the basis of the internal information signal S3that “the pet-type robot is not hungry”, that is, the voltage of thebattery is not lower than a predetermined threshold value, the actionfor making the motion of “giving the paw” is decided in response to thepresentation of the palm in front of the pet-type robot.

On the other hand, when it is detected that the palm is presented infront of the pet-type robot, and that the strength of the emotion unit100C of “anger” is not higher than the predetermined threshold value,and that “the pet-type robot is hungry”, that is, the voltage of thebattery is less than the predetermined threshold value, the action formaking the motion of “licking the palm” is decided.

Alternatively, when it is detected that the palm is presented in frontof the pet-type robot, and that the strength of the emotion unit 100C of“anger” is equal to or higher than the predetermined threshold value,the action of making the motion of “turning away” is decidedirrespective of whether “the pet-type robot is not hungry”, that is,whether the voltage of the battery is not lower than the predeterminedthreshold value.

The first to n-th action models are constituted in such a manner that anumber of nodes NODE0 to NODEn described as the state transition table95 are connected. Thus, when the recognition result (information S14) isprovided, the next action is decided in terms of the probability byusing the state transition table of the corresponding node NODE0 toNODEn, and the result of decision is outputted to the selection module94.

The selection module 94 selects the action outputted from the actionmodel of the predetermined high priority, of the actions outputted fromthe first to n-th action models, and outputs the information of theselected action as action command information S16 to the posturetransition mechanism section 92. For example, the action modelsdescribed on the lower side in FIG. 12 are of higher priority.

The selection module 94 also outputs the result of selection as theaction information S12 to the emotion/instinct model section 90 and theaction decision mechanism section 91. For example, the selection module94 raises a flag on the decided action and outputs its information asthe action information S12 and the action command information S16 to theaction decision mechanism section 91 and the posture transitionmechanism section 92.

The action decision mechanism section 91 decides the action on the basisof the action information S12 as well as the external information (thecommand signal S1 and the external information signal S2) S21 and theinternal information (the internal information signal S3 and theemotion/instinct state information S10) S22, and thus can decide thenext action in consideration of the previous action.

The emotion/instinct model section 90 changes the state of the emotionand the state of the instinct on the basis of the action information S12as well as the same information S1 to S3 (consisting of the commandsignal S1, the external information S2 and the internal informationsignal S3) as described above. Thus, the emotion/instinct model section90 can generate different emotion/instinct state information S10 evenwhen the same information S1 to S3 is provided, as described above.

Since the contents of the information S1 to S3 vary in accordance withthe timing of being inputted to the emotion/instinct model section 90and the action decision mechanism section 91, the information S1 to S3is inputted to both the emotion/instinct model section 90 and the actiondecision mechanism section 91.

For example, when the external information signal S2 to the effect that“the pet-type robot is patted on the head” is supplied, the controller82 causes the emotion/instinct model section 90 to generate theemotion/instinct state information S10 indicating “joy” and to supplythis emotion/instinct state information S10 to the action decisionmechanism section 91. In this state, if the external information signalS2 indicating that “the palm is in front of the pet-type robot” issupplied, the action decision mechanism 91 decides the action of “givingthe paw with joy” on the basis of the emotion/instinct state informationS10 indicating “joy” and the external information signal S2 to theeffect that “the palm is in front of the pet-type robot”.

By the above-described various types of means, the action commandinformation S16 is decided by the action decision mechanism section 91and the selection module 94, that is, the action is decided as aconcept. The decided action information command information S16 isinputted to the posture transition mechanism section 92.

The posture transition mechanism section 92 generates information forshifting to the target posture or the target motion.

As described above, the pet-type robot 23 causes the action decisionmechanism section 91 to decide the next action to be taken. However, thecurrent action and the next action are not necessarily realized in thesame posture or motion. That is, there is considered a case where thecurrent action is realized in a “lying posture” and where the nextaction is realized in a “standing posture”. In such a case, thetransition from the “lying posture” to the “standing posture” must bemade in order to carry out the next action. The posture transitionmechanism section 92 is adapted for carrying out such transition of theposture or motion.

Specifically, the posture transition mechanism section 92 generates theposture transition information S18 for shifting the current posture ormotion to the next posture or motion (the target posture or the targetmotion, or the posture or motion for realizing the next action) on thebasis of the action command information S16 supplied from the actiondecision mechanism section 91, and sends the posture transitioninformation S18 to the control mechanism section 93, as shown in FIG. 8.For example, the posture to which transition can be made from thecurrent posture is decided in accordance with the physical shape of thepet-type robot 23 such as the shapes of the trunk and limbs, the weightand the coupling state of the respective parts, and the mechanism of theactuators 78A to 78N for the directions and angles of bending of thejoints. The posture transition information S18 is the information forrealizing transition in consideration of such shape and mechanism.

On the basis of the posture transition information S18 thus sent fromthe posture transition mechanism section 92, the control mechanismsection 93 actually operates the pet-type robot 23.

The posture transition mechanism section 92 has registered therein inadvance the posture to which transition can be made by the pet-typerobot 23 and the motion in making the transition, and holds suchinformation as a graph. The posture transition mechanism section 92sends the action command information S16, supplied from the actiondecision mechanism section 91, to the control mechanism section 83 asthe posture transition information S18. The control mechanism section 93operates in accordance with the posture transition information S18 so asto shift to the target posture or the target motion. The processing atthe posture transition mechanism section 92 will now be described indetail.

For example, there is a case where the pet-type robot 23 cannot directlyshift to the posture in accordance with the contents of the command(action command information S16). The postures of the pet-type robot 23are classified into postures to which direct transition can be made fromthe current posture, and postures to which transition can be made notdirectly but via a certain motion or posture.

The quadrupedal pet-type robot 23 can directly shift from the sprawlingstate to the state of getting down, but cannot directly shift to thestanding posture and needs to make two stages of motions, that is,drawing the limbs back toward the trunk so as to take the lying postureand then standing up. There is also a posture that cannot be takensafely. For example, the quadrupedal pet-type robot 23 will fall down ifit tries to raise the forelimbs up in the standing posture.Alternatively, when a command having the contents of “fluttering thelimbs”, which can be done only in the sitting posture, is sent in thecase where the current posture is the sprawling posture (or lyingposture), the transition from the lying posture to the sitting postureand the motion of fluttering the limbs are carried out and the pet-typerobot 23 may lose its balance and fall down.

Therefore, when the action command information S16 supplied from theaction decision mechanism section 91 indicates the posture to whichdirect transition can be made, the posture transition mechanism section92 sends the action command information S16 as it is, as the posturetransition information S18 to the control mechanism section 93. On theother hand, when the action command information S16 indicates theposture to which direct transition cannot be made, the posturetransition mechanism section 92 generates the posture transitioninformation S18 for shifting to the target posture (posture instructedby the action command information S16) via another posture or motionthat can be taken, and sends this posture transition information S18 tothe control mechanism section 93. Thus, the pet-type robot 23 can avoidany impossible attempt to take a posture to which transition cannot bemade or any risk of falling down. Also, the preparation of a pluralityof motions to reach the target posture or motion leads to the abundanceof expressions.

The pet-type robot 23 is adapted for representing the action of theelectronic pet in the real world. Thus, it is essential to consider thecurrent posture or the like when making transition to the target motionor posture, as described above. It is also essential to consider theconflict of resources, which will be described later. Meanwhile, suchconsideration is not required in the virtual electronic pet device 22adapted for representing the action of the electronic pet in the virtualworld (on the screen).

Specifically, the posture transition mechanism section 92 holds a graphhaving registered therein the posture and motion that can be taken bythe pet-type robot 23 and constituted by the posture and the motion forshifting the posture. The posture transition mechanism section 92 thensearches for a path from the current posture to the target posture orthe target motion on the graph on the basis of the action commandinformation S16 as the command information, and causes the pet-typerobot to move in accordance with the search result, thus shifting fromthe current posture to the target posture or the target motion. That is,the posture transition mechanism section 92 registers in advance thepostures that can be taken by the pet-type robot 23, and also recordsthe connection between two postures which allow transition. The posturetransition mechanism section 92 thus makes transition to the targetposture or motion on the basis of the graph and the action commandinformation S16 outputted from the action decision mechanism section 91.

Specifically, as the above-described graph, the posture transitionmechanism section 92 uses an algorithm called a directed graph 96 asshown in FIG. 15. The directed graph 96 is constituted by coupling anode indicating the posture that can be taken by the pet-type robot 23,a directed arc (motion arc) for connecting two postures (nodes) whichallow transition, and depending on the case, a motion arc for returningfrom one node to this one node, that is, a self-motion arc indicatingthe motion completed within one node. That is, the posture transitionmechanism section 92 holds the directed graph 96 constituted by the nodeas the information indicating the posture (standstill posture) of thepet-type robot 23, and the directed arc and the self-motion arc as theinformation indicating the motion of the pet-type robot 23. The posturetransition mechanism section 92 then regards the posture as pointinformation and regards the information of the motion (or action) asdirected line information.

In this case, there may be a plurality of directed arcs or self-motionarcs. That is, a plurality of arcs may be provided between the nodes(postures) which allow transition, and a plurality of self-motion arcsmay be coupled in one node.

When the action command information S16 is supplied from the actiondecision mechanism section 91, the posture transition mechanism section92 searches for a path from the current node to the next node along thedirection of the directed arc so as to connect the node corresponding tothe current posture and the node corresponding to the next posture to betaken indicated by the action command information S16, and sequentiallyrecords the.nodes located on the path thus searched for, thereby makingthe plan of posture transition. Hereinafter, the search for the targetnode (node instructed by the command) or the target arc (arc instructedby the command) from the current posture is referred to as path search.In this case, the target arc may be a directed arc or may be aself-motion arc. For example, in the case where a self-motion arc is thetarget arc, a self-motion is the target (instructed), that is, forexample, a predetermined performance (motion) is instructed.

On the basis of the posture transition plan to reach the target posture(node) or the target motion (directed arc or self-motion arc) obtainedby path search, the posture transition mechanism section 92 outputs acontrol command (posture transition information S18) for transition tothe control mechanism section 93 on the subsequent stage.

For example, as shown in FIG. 16, when the action command informationS16 representing “Sit” is supplied in the case where the current postureis at the node DN2 indicating the posture of “getting down”, directtransition from the node ND2 indicating the posture of “getting down” tothe node ND5 indicating the posture of “sitting” is possible since thedirected arc a9 exists from the node ND2 to the node ND5. Thus, theposture transition mechanism section 92 provides the posture transitioninformation S18 having the contents of “Sit” to the control mechanismsection 93.

On the other hand, when the action command information S16 representing“Walk” is supplied in the case where the current posture is at the nodeND2 indicating the posture of “getting down”, since direct transitionfrom “getting down” to “walking” is not possible, a posture transitionplan is made by searching for a path to reach the node ND4 indicatingthe posture of “walking” from the node ND2 indicating the posture of“getting down”. That is, a posture transition plan is made such as toselect the node ND3 indicating the posture of “standing” via thedirected arc a2 from the node ND2 indicating the posture of “gettingdown” and then to reach the node ND4 indicating the posture of “walking”via the directed arc a3 from the node ND3 indicating the posture of“standing”. As a result of such a posture transition plan, the posturetransition mechanism section 92 outputs the posture transitioninformation S18 having the contents of “Stand” and then outputs theposture transition information S18 having the contents of “Walk”, to thecontrol mechanism section 93.

The pet-type robot 23 is capable of separately operating the individualconstituent parts. That is, commands can be executed with respect toeach of the constituent parts. Such constituent parts of the robotdevice 1 (whole body) may be generally the head portion 61, the limbportions 63, and the tail portion 64, as shown in FIG. 17.

In the pet-type robot 23 thus constituted, the tail portion 64 and thehead portion 61 can be operated separately. That is, these portions canbe operated separately since there is no conflict of resources. On theother hand, the whole body of the pet-type robot 23 and the head portion61 cannot be operated separately. That is, the whole body and the headportion cannot be operated separately since there is a conflict ofresources. For example, while a command for the motion of the whole bodyincluding the motion of the head portion 61 is executed, a command forthe head portion 61 cannot be executed. It is possible for the pet-typerobot to wag the tail portion 64 while shaking the head portion 61, butit is impossible to shake the head portion 61 while doing a certainperformance using the whole body. The occurrence of such a conflict ofresources is a problem proper to the pet-type robot 23, whichconstitutes the electronic pet in the real world.

The following table shows exemplary combinations of parts which causeand do not cause a conflict of resources with respect to the actioncommand information S16 sent from the action decision mechanism section91.

Combination of Parts Conflict of Resources Head, Tail No Head, WholeBody Yes Limbs, Whole Body Yes Head, Limbs, Tail No

In the case where the commands which cause a conflict of resources isthus supplied, either the command for the motion of the whole body 23 orthe command for the motion of the head portion 61 must be executedpreferentially. The processing for dealing with such commands will nowbe described.

In the case of preferentially executing one of the commands becausethere is a conflict of resources, for example, in the case of completingthe motion of the whole body 23 and then executing the command for thehead portion 61, the motion of the head portion 61 is started in thelast posture which is reached as a result of the motion of the wholebody 23. However, the last posture after the motion of the whole body 23is not necessarily a posture suitable for starting a motion such asshaking the head portion 61. If the motion of the head portion 61 isstarted when the last posture after the motion of the whole body 23 isnot a posture suitable for starting the motion of the head portion 61,that is, when the postures between which transition is made arediscontinuous due to the different commands, the head portion 61 maymove abruptly, thus generating an unnatural motion. This problem iscaused in the case where the transition from the current posture (ormotion) to the target posture (or motion) extends over the whole bodyand the individual constituent parts of the pet-type robot 23 and wherea network (graph) including the node and arc constituted for controllingthe whole body of the pet-type robot 23 and networks (graphs) includingthe node and arc constituted for controlling the individual constituentparts of the pet-type robot 23 are separately constituted without havingany relation with each other.

The unnatural motion, generated by the pet-type robot 23 due to thediscontinuity of the postures between which transition is made, iseliminated by making a posture transition plan so as to smoothlyconnecting the transition motions on the graph. Specifically, a basicposture shared on the graphs of the whole body and the constituent partsis employed to make the posture transition plan.

Information of a network used for the posture transition plan of thepet-type robot 23 will be described hereinafter with reference to thecase where it is constituted by the information (graph) of the networkof the whole body and the information (graphs) of the networks of theindividual constituent parts, as shown in FIG. 18A. For example, theinformation used for the posture transition plan consisting of theinformation (graph) of the network of the whole body and the information(graphs) of the networks of the individual constituent parts isconstituted within the posture transition mechanism section 92, as shownin FIG. 12.

The basic posture is a posture to which transition is temporarily madein order to shift the state between the motion of the whole body and themotion of each constituent part. The basic posture may be, for example,a sitting posture as shown in FIG. 18B. The procedure for smoothlyconnecting the transition motions in the case where the sitting postureis employed as the basic posture will now be described.

Specifically, it is the case where the current posture is understood asthe posture NDa0 on the graph of the whole body and where a motion a2 ofthe head portion is to be executed as a target motion, as shown in FIG.19.

On the graph of the whole body, a directed arc a0 for shifting theposture of the whole body of the pet-type robot 23 from the currentposture NDa0 to a basic posture NDab is selected. In the case where thewhole body is in the basic posture, the state (node) of the basicposture is also grasped on the graphs of the head portion, the limbportions, and the tail portion.

On the graph of the head portion, an optimum directed arc a1 from thestate of a basic posture NDhb is selected, and a path to reach thetarget motion (self-motion arc) a2 of the head portion 61 is decided.

In accordance with such procedure, the selection of the transition path(posture transition plan) so as to smoothly connects the motions of thewhole body and each constituent part is carried out on the graph of thewhole body and the graph of the head portion. Then, the posturetransition mechanism section 92 outputs the posture transitioninformation S18 to the control mechanism section 93 on the basis of theposture transition plan.

In the above-described example, the motions are smoothly connected themotion of the whole body to the motion of each constituent part. Anexample in which the motions are smoothly connected from the motion ofeach constituent part to the motion of the whole body will now bedescribed. Specifically, it is the case where the posture of the headportion 61 is grasped as a posture NDh0 on the graph of the head portionwhile the posture of the limb portion 63 is grasped as a posture NDf0 onthe graph of the limb portion and where a motion a4 of the whole body isto be executed as a target motion, as shown in FIG. 20.

On the graph of the head portion, a directed arc a0 for shifting theposture of the head portion 61 from the current posture NDh0 to a basicposture NDAB is selected. On the graph of the limb portion, directedarcs a1 and a2 for shifting the posture of the limb portion 63 from thecurrent posture NDf0 to a basic posture NDfb via a posture NDf1 areselected. It is assumed that the tail portion 64 is originally in itsbasic posture. In the case where the respective constituent parts arethus in the basic postures, the basic posture is also grasped on thegraph of the whole body.

On the graph of the whole body, an optimum directed arc a3 from thestate of the basic posture NDhb is selected and a path to reach thetarget motion (self-motion arc) a4 of the whole body is decided.

For example, the motion of each constituent part may be executedsimultaneously with the motion of another constituent part in thetransition to the basic posture, and the motions of the respectiveconstituent parts may be executed with some limitations. For example,certain timing for carrying out the motion may be provided.

Specifically, if a command for the motion of the whole body 23 is givenwhile the pet-type robot is doing a certain performance with its headportion 61, transition of the head portion 61 to the basic posture NDhbcannot be made since the pet-type robot is doing a performance with thehead portion 61. Therefore, the limb portion 63 is first set in thestate of the basic posture NDfb and then the head portion 61 oncompletion of the performance is shifted to the state of the basicposture NDhb.

The individual constituent parts can also be moved in consideration ofthe balance of the posture of the whole body 23. For example, if thehead portion 61 and the limb portion 63 are simultaneously shifted, orif the head portion 61 is first shifted to the state of the basicposture NDhb, the pet-type robot 23 loses its balance and falls down. Insuch a case, the limb portion 63 is first set to the state of the basicposture NDfb and then the head portion 61 is shifted to the state of thebasic posture NDhb.

By thus making the posture transition plan which allows temporarytransition to the basic posture, the motions can be smoothly connected.

The posture transition mechanism section 92 searches for an optimum pathto the target posture or motion indicated by the command so as to makethe posture transition plan on the basis of the action commandinformation S16 sent from the action decision mechanism section 91, andoutputs the posture transition information S18 to the control mechanismsection 93 in accordance with the posture transition plan, as describedabove.

Thus, the pet-type robot 23 can avoid any impossible attempt to take aposture to which transition cannot be made or any risk of falling down.Also, the preparation of a plurality of motions to reach the targetposture or motion leads to the abundance of expressions.

The control mechanism section 93 generates a control signal S5 fordriving the actuators 78A to 78N on the basis of the posture transitioninformation S18, as shown in FIG. 8, and sends the control signal S5 tothe actuators 78A to 78N so as to drive the actuators 78A to 78N, thuscausing the pet-type robot 23 to make a desired motion.

Specifically, in the case where the transition of the posture or motionis necessary for taking the next action, the control mechanism section93 controls the actuators 78A to 78N on the basis of the posturetransition information S18 in accordance with the posture transitionplan sent from the posture transition mechanism section 92, thusshifting the pet-type robot 23 to a desired posture or motion. Then, thecontrol mechanism section 93 controls the actuators 78A to 78N on thebasis of the subsequently supplied information of the action selected bythe selection module 94, thus causing the pet-type robot 23 to carry outthe selected action, for example, a performance.

In the case where the transition of the posture or motion is notnecessary for taking the next action, the control mechanism section 93controls the actuators 78A to 78N on the basis of the subsequentlysupplied information of the action selected by the selection module 94,thus causing the pet-type robot 23 to carry out the selected action(e.g., a performance), without carrying out the transition of theposture or motion.

The specific structure of the pet-type robot 23 is described above. Sucha pet-type robot 23 can change the state of the emotion and the state ofthe instinct using the emotion models and the instinct models on thebasis of the external information (environment or external elements) orthe internal information (internal elements) and can act in accordancewith the state of the emotion and the state of the instinct.

Thus, since parameters corresponding to the emotion and instinct of theelectronic pet are contained in the pet-type robot 23, a short-temperedelectronic pet or a crybaby electronic pet can be realized. It is thuspossible to cause the electronic pet to take an action in considerationof such an emotion or action, and to change the emotion in accordancewith the action carried out by the electronic pet itself. Specifically,when the electronic pet is hungry and thus has the emotion of anger at ahigh level, it is possible to cause the electronic pet to take an actionlike crying or falling asleep and to sooth the increased emotion ofanger in accordance with that action. Thus, an electronic pet with morereality is realized.

In the embodiment, the structure shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 is employed asthe specific structure of the pet-type robot 23. However, it is a matterof course that the structure shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 can be applied tothe virtual electronic pet device 22. For example, in the case where thestructure is applied to the virtual electronic pet device 22, anequivalent technique is employed for inappropriate portions, thusrealizing the virtual electronic pet device 22 as shown in FIGS. 7 and8. For example, in the virtual electronic pet device 22, since themotion section (actuators 78A to 78N) is not required, it is changed toan output to the image display section, thus realizing the virtualelectronic pet device 22. In the virtual electronic pet device 22, themechanism for making the posture transition plan or for solving theconflict of resources is not required, either.

Thus, in the virtual world (on the display image), an electronic petwhich changes the state of the emotion and the state of the instinct onthe basis of the external or internal information and acts in accordancewith the state of the emotion or the state of the instinct can berealized similarly.

In the electronic pet system, as described above, an electronic petwhich stores the pet characteristic information in the individualinformation storage section 1 (IC card 21) and has the emotion orinstinct based on the stored pet characteristic information is realized.

For example, in the case where the virtual electronic pet device 22 orthe pet-type robot 23 is constituted as described above, the petcharacteristic information stored in the individual information storagesection 1 (IC card 21) may be the emotion parameters and the instinctparameters decided by the above-described emotion models and theinstinct models. In this case, the emotion parameters and the instinctparameters are stored in the individual information storage section 1,as shown in FIG. 21.

As the pet characteristic information, the transition probability indeciding actions can also be stored in the individual informationstorage section 1.

As described with reference to FIG. 13, using the finite probabilityautomaton, actions are decided in terms of the probability on the basisof the transition probabilities P1 to Pn which are set for respectivearcs ARC1 to ARCn1 connecting the respective nodes NODE0 to NODEn andindicating to which node NODE0 to NODEn the transition should be madefrom one node (state) NODE0 to NODEn, and these transition probabilitiesP1 to Pn can also be stored in the individual information storagesection 1. The transition probabilities P1 to Pn can be changed inaccordance with the state of the emotion, the state of the instinct, orlearning. Therefore, the individuality of the electronic pet can berealized by storing the transition probabilities.

The pet characteristic information stored in the individual informationstorage section 1 is not limited to the above-described example.

For example, the name of the electronic pet, the name of the owner (thename of the keeper (user)), the time of growth, the number of remainingmetempsychoses, and the species may also be employed. The time of growthis the elapsed time from the birth of the electronic pet up to thepresent. The electronic pet (its soul) comes back to life after death,and the number of remaining metempsychoses is the information indicatingthe number of remaining times for coming back to life. Specifically, itis the number of times for reset. The species is the informationindicating the kind of the electronic pet such as dogs, cats, or birds.The kind of the electronic pet need not necessarily be an existentanimal.

The pet characteristic information may also be learning information. Thelearning information is the information related to whether theelectronic pet can do a predetermined performance or not. That is, theelectronic pet is enabled to learn several types of performances and thelearning information indicates whether the electronic pet can do eachtype of performance.

In the present embodiment, since the internal information is stored onthe IC card 21 that can be inserted to and ejected from the virtualelectronic pet device 22 or the pet-type robot 23, the electronic petcan be enjoyed in a form suitable for the user's environment.

In the present embodiment, the IC card 21 is loaded in the virtualelectronic pet device 22 or the pet-type robot 23 so as to cause thevirtual electronic pet device 22 or the pet-type robot 23 to function asthe electronic pet. However, the IC card 21 can also be loaded into atypical computer or the like, and it is thus possible to cause thecomputer to function as the electronic pet.

In the present embodiment, the present invention is described withrespect to the electronic pet. However, the present invention can alsobe applied to other living objects than the electronic pet (e.g., plantobject or the like).

Moreover, in the present embodiment, the pet characteristic informationis stored on the IC card. However, as the storage means for storing thepet characteristic information, portable storage means that can beinserted to and ejected from the device can be employed, such as amemory card, an optical card, a magneto-optical disc, and a magneticdisk.

In addition, in the present embodiment, the individual informationstorage section 1 storing the pet characteristic information can beinserted to and ejected from the body section 2. However, it is alsopossible to provide a memory (built-in storage medium or storage unit)that can be inserted to and ejected from the body section 2 and to storethe pet characteristic information into that memory. In this case, theindividual information storage section 1 and the body section 2transmits the pet characteristic information by using various types ofcommunication means, for example, a communication cable, radiotransmission, or infrared rays.

In the virtual electronic pet device 22, the electronic pet is a virtualexistence displayed on the monitor and therefore its appearance iseasily changed. However, it is difficult for the pet-type robot 23 tochange its appearance. Therefore, in the pet-type robot 23, theinformation related to the appearance, of the pet characteristicinformation, is basically ignored. When the species of the petcharacteristic information indicates birds in the case where thepet-type robot 23 is in the shape of a dog, it is possible to cause thepet-type robot 23 to request a change of parts for those of a bird,(forexample, by means of a synthetic voice).

A specific example of the IC card that can be inserted and ejected, usedin the above-described first embodiment, is shown in FIGS. 22 to 24. ICcards of various shapes are currently standardized and the presentinvention is applicable to any of such IC cards. In the presentembodiment, a stick-shaped IC card is employed, for example.

The stick-shaped IC card can be inserted and ejected, as describedabove. When the user inserts the stick-shaped IC card into the slot 23Aof the pet-type robot 23 or the slot 22A of the virtual electronic petdevice 22, the user will be at a loss for determining how deep the usercan insert the IC card. That is, when loading the IC card into the slot23A of the pet-type robot 23 or the slot 22A of the virtual electronicpet device 22, it is convenient if the user can feel the loading by aloading sound (a clicking sound or the like) or if the pet-type robot 23or the virtual electronic pet device 22 has an IC card lock/ejectionfunction. However, if the user cannot feel the loading or if thelock/ejection function is provided, the user might break the IC card byforcibly inserting the IC card into the slot, or cannot carry outtransmission/reception of data because of insufficient insertion of theIC card.

Thus, in the present embodiment, color discrimination for indicating apredetermined insertion position is carried out on an IC card 131, asshown in FIG. 22. Specifically, as the color of a portion 134 whichshould be out of the slot and the color of a portion 133 which should beinserted and kept in the slot are made different (color discriminationis made), the user can visually recognize the state of the accuratelyloaded IC card when the IC card 131 is inserted in the slot 23A of thepet-type robot 23 or the slot 22A of the virtual electronic pet device22. Although FIG. 22 shows an example in which color discrimination ismade on a label 132 attached to the body of the IC card 131, colordiscrimination may also be made on the body of the IC card 131 itself.In the present invention, the colors of the portions 133 and 134 forcolor discrimination are not particularly limited, and arbitrary colorscan be used.

Although color discrimination is made on the IC card 131 in the exampleof FIG. 22, it is also possible to provide an arrow mark 135 as shown inFIG. 23, together with or in place of the color discrimination on the ICcard 131. FIG. 23 shows an example in which the color of a portion 134to be out of the slot and the color of a portion 133 to be inserted andkept in the slot are made different similarly to the example of FIG. 22and in which the arrow mark 135 is added to the portion 134 which shouldbe out of the slot. By thus providing the arrow mark 135, the user notonly can accurately load the IC card 131 into the slot but also caneasily recognize the loading direction of the IC card 131. Although FIG.23 shows the example in which color discrimination is made on the label132 attached to the body of the IC card 131 and in which the arrow mark135 is added to the label 132, the arrow mark 135 may also be providedon the body of the IC card 131 itself.

As a still another example, it is possible to provide a line 136indicating the boundary position as shown in FIG. 24, together with orin place of the color discrimination. FIG. 24 shows an example in whichthe color of a portion 134 to be out of the slot and the color of aportion 133 to be inserted and kept in the slot are made differentsimilarly to the example of FIG. 22 and in which the line 136 is addedat the boundary position between the portion 134 to be out of the slotand the portion 133 to be kept in the slot. By thus providing the line136, the user can accurately load the IC card 131 into the slot.Although FIG. 24 shows the example in which color discrimination is madeon the label 132 attached to the body of the IC card 131 and in whichthe line 136 is added to the label 132, the line 136 may also beprovided on the body of the IC card 131 itself.

FIG. 25 shows the state where the IC card 131 as described above isaccurately loaded in the slot of the pet-type robot 23 or the virtualelectronic pet device 22.

FIG. 26 shows an example of the label 132 attached to the body of the ICcard 131. In the example of the label 132 shown in FIG. 26, only colordiscrimination is made as in the example of FIG. 22, and the color ofthe portion 134 to be out of the slot when the IC card 131 is insertedin the slot and the color of the portion 133 to be inserted and kept inthe slot are discriminated.

FIG. 27A shows a bottom view corresponding to the plan views of the ICcard 131 shown in FIGS. 22 to 24, and FIG. 27B shows aside view thereof.On this IC card 131, a terminal portion 137 connected with a datatransmission/reception terminal provided in the slot 23A of the pet-typerobot 23 or the slot 22A of the virtual electronic pet device 22, and awrite inhibit lock 138 for inhibiting data writing are provided. Thelabel 132 of FIG. 26 is attached in such a manner that the portion 134to be out of the slot is turned up to cover the bottom side of the ICcard 131.

A second embodiment of the present invention will now be described.

In the first embodiment, storage of the individual information storagesection 1 (pet characteristic information of the electronic pet) in astorage medium such as an IC card that can be inserted and ejected isenabled, and insertion/ejection of the IC card to/from the slot 22A ofthe virtual electronic pet device 22 or the slot 23A of the pet-typerobot 23 is enabled, thus enabling transfer of the pet characteristicinformation between the virtual electronic pet device 22 and thepet-type robot 23. In the second embodiment, however, transfer of thepet characteristic information is enabled by communication without usingan IC card.

FIG. 28 shows an example of connection according to the secondembodiment.

A virtual electronic pet device 202 shown in FIG. 28 is basically thesame as the above-described virtual electronic pet device 22, and apet-type robot 204 shown in FIG. 28 is basically the same as theabove-described pet-type robot 23. In the second embodiment, however,both the virtual electronic pet device 202 and the pet-type robot 204have a communication processing section which enables replacement of thepet characteristic information of the above-described individualinformation storage section 1 by communication. The pet characteristicinformation communicated via the communication processing section can bestored onto an IC card as described above and can also be stored intodata storage sections 203 and 205 which are internally provided. (OnFIG. 28, it is shown that they are outside of the virtual electronic petdevice 202 and the pet-type robot 204, respectively, but they areactually provided therein.) In the second embodiment, the petcharacteristic information is stored into the internally provided datastorage sections.

In the example of connection shown in FIG. 28, the virtual electronicpet device 202 and the pet-type robot 204 are connected to a personalcomputer 201, and the personal computer 201 is connected a network suchas the Internet 200. Meanwhile, it is also possible to directly connectthe virtual electronic pet device 202 to the pet-type robot 204 withoutusing the personal computer 201, or to directly connect them to theInternet 200 without using the personal computer 201. Moreover, in thesecond embodiment, it is possible to connect the virtual electronic petdevices 202 to each other or the pet-type robots 204 to each other.

The electronic pet can be expressed not only by the virtual electronicpet device 202 or the pet-type robot 204 but also on the personalcomputer 201. In this case, by installing an application program forrealizing the above-described electronic pet on the personal computer201 and starting the application program for the electronic pet, itbecomes possible to keep the electronic pet on the personal computer201. Therefore, also the pet characteristic information of theelectronic pet is stored into the personal computer 201.

In the second embodiment, as the connection form in the case oftransmitting and receiving the pet characteristic information betweenthe virtual electronic pet device 202 and the pet-type robot 204,various forms of connection can be considered such as connection via acable, connection via radio transmission, and connection by infraredrays. The present invention is applicable to any connection formincluding such connection via a cable, radio transmission, and infraredrays.

FIG. 29 shows the structure of a main portion (communication processingsection) of the pet-type robot 204, which enables transfer of the petcharacteristic information by communication, as described above. Thepet-type robot 204 has the structure as shown in FIGS. 3, 5 and 7, butonly the portion (communication processing section) necessary forcommunication of the pet characteristic information is shown in FIG. 29.In the example of FIG. 29, connection by infrared rays (IrDa), serialcable connection, and radio connection are employed as exemplaryconnection forms.

In FIG. 29, a RAM 211 corresponds to the RAM 33 of FIG. 5, and aprocessing unit 212 corresponds to the CPU 31 of FIG. 5.

The communication processing section 210 of the pet-type robot 204 shownin FIG. 29 has an infrared (IrDa) transmission/reception section 217, aserial port section 218, and a radio transmission/reception section 219,as communication means connected to the outside (e.g., the virtualelectronic pet device, the personal computer, or the Internet) fortransmitting and receiving the pet characteristic information. Thesecommunication means are connected to a communication control section215.

The communication control section 215 is controlled by the processingunit 212 corresponding to the CPU 31 of FIG. 5, and operates inaccordance with a communication clock from a clock generation section216, thus transmitting and receiving data in accordance with acommunication protocol corresponding to the connection form of thecommunication means.

The data to be transmitted is read out from the RAM 211 under thecontrol of the processing unit 212, then temporarily stored in atransmitted data storage section 213 as a transmission buffer, and thentransmitted from the communication means via the communication controlsection 215. The data received by the communication means is temporarilystored in a received data storage section 214 as a reception buffer viathe communication control section 215 and then sent to the RAM 211.

FIG. 30 shows the specific appearance of a virtual electronic pet deviceused in the embodiment of the present invention.

A virtual electronic pet device 220 shown in FIG. 30 has a monitor 222for displaying the electronic pet, a speaker 223 for outputting a voice,a microphone 224 for picking up a voice, operation buttons 226 for theuser to input various operations to the device 220, LEDs (light-emittingdiodes) 225 which are lit in accordance with the operated buttons, and atalk switch 221 for instructing analysis of the voice picked up from themicrophone 224 as described above.

The virtual electronic pet device 220 as shown in FIG. 30 has aninternal hardware structure as shown in FIG. 31. The structure shown inFIG. 31 has basically the same function as the structure of FIG. 4, buta communication interface 112 is provided as the structure to enablecommunication of the pet characteristic information as in the secondembodiment.

In FIG. 31, a processing unit 113 is adapted for carrying out varioustypes of processing in accordance with programs stored in a ROM 116. TheROM 116 stores programs to be executed by the processing unit 113 anddata necessary for executing the programs. A RAM 115 stores datanecessary for the operation of the processing unit 113.

The communication interface 112 functions as an interface correspondingto the communication means and the communication control section 215shown in FIG. 29.

The microphone 224 converts a voice inputted thereto to an audio signalas an analog electric signal and supplies the audio signal to an A/Dconverter 101. The A/D converter 101 performs A/D conversion on theanalog audio signal from the microphone 224 and outputs a digital audiosignal to a voice recognition device 104.

The voice recognition device 104 carries out linear prediction analysisof the audio signal inputted thereto so as to extract the characteristicquantity, and carries out voice recognition based on, for example, theHMM method. A program executed by the voice recognition device 104 forcarrying out voice recognition and word models as the objects of voicerecognition are stored, for example, in a ROM 103. In the ROM 103,particularly the word models used for the keeper to talk to the pet arestored as the word models to be the objects of voice recognition. Themethod of acoustic analysis is not limited to the linear predictionanalysis, and the method of voice recognition is not limited to the HMMmethod. A RAM 102 stores data necessary for the operation of the voicerecognition device 104.

A key section corresponds to the operation buttons 226 and the talkswitch 221 shown in FIG. 30. A signal outputted from the key section221, 226 as the user operates the key section is inputted to theprocessing unit 113. Thus, the processing unit 113 recognizes thebuttons and keys operated by the user. For example, when the operationbuttons 226 in the key section are operated, various types of inputs areprovided to the electronic pet in response to the operations. When thetalk switch 221 in the key section is pressed, the processing unit 113causes the voice recognition device 104 to start voice recognition ofthe voice inputted from the microphone 224.

A sensor 227 is a sensor for detecting the state of the externalenvironment such as the sound, light, and temperature. A detectionsignal from this sensor 227 is converted to a digital signal by an A/Dconverter 105 and then sent to the processing unit 113. The processingunit 113 controls the reaction of the electronic pet on the basis of thedetection data obtained from the sensor 227.

A voice synthesizer 114 synthesizes a voice to be outputted by theelectronic pet under the control of the processing unit 113. A programfor the voice synthesizer 114 to carry out voice synthesis and data asthe basis for voice synthesis are stored, for example, in a ROM 107. Inthe ROM 107, data for synthesizing various types pf voices to beoutputted by the electronic pet are stored. A ROM 106 stores datanecessary for the operation of the voice synthesizer 114.

A D/A converter 108 performs D/A conversion on the audio datasynthesized by the voice synthesizer 114 so as to generate an analogaudio signal, and supplies the analog audio signal to the speaker 223.The speaker 223 includes an amplifier so as to amplify the audio signalfrom the D/A converter 108 and then output the amplified audio signal.

A liquid crystal display (LCD) section 222 includes a liquid crystalcontroller which is controlled by the processing unit 113 and displaysvarious images (e.g., images of the electronic pet) and characters.

FIG. 32 shows the essential internal structures of the virtualelectronic pet device 220 and the pet-type robot 204 in the case wherethe virtual electronic pet device 220 and the pet-type robot 204 areconnected with each other via a USB (universal serial bus) cable as anexemplary serial data cable so as to transfer the pet characteristicinformation.

In FIG. 32, a CPU 231 of the virtual electronic pet device 220corresponds to the processing unit 113 of FIG. 31, a RAM 236 correspondsto the RAM 115 of FIG. 31, and a ROM 235 corresponds to the ROM 116 ofFIG. 31. An image controller 234 corresponds to the liquid crystalcontroller included in the liquid crystal display section 222 of FIG.31. A data storage section 233 stores the pet characteristicinformation. The pet characteristic information is transmitted to andreceived from the pet-type robot 204 via the USB cable connected to aUSB port 232.

A CPU 241 of the pet-type robot 204 corresponds to the processing unit212 of FIG. 29, a RAM 146 corresponds to the RAM 211 of FIG. 29, and aROM 245 corresponds to the ROM 32 of FIG. 29. A mechanical controller244 controls the driving mechanism 52 of FIG. 5 under the control of theCPU 241. A data storage section 243 stores the pet characteristicinformation. The pet characteristic information is transmitted to andreceived from the virtual electronic pet device 220 via the USB cableconnected to a USB port 242.

FIG. 33 shows the essential internal structures of the virtualelectronic pet device 220 and the pet-type robot 204 in the case wherethe virtual electronic pet device 220 and the pet-type robot 204 areconnected with each other by infrared rays via an infrared (IrDA)transmission/reception section so as to transfer the pet characteristicinformation. In FIG. 33, portions similar to those of FIG. 32 aredenoted by the same numerals and will not be described further indetail.

In the example of FIG. 33, an infrared transmission/reception section237 of the virtual electronic pet device 220 is provided in thecommunication interface 112 of FIG. 31. The pet characteristicinformation is transmitted and received between the infraredtransmission/reception section 237 and an infraredtransmission/reception section 247 of the pet-type robot 204.

The infrared transmission/reception section 247 of the pet-type robot204 corresponds to the infrared transmission/reception section 217 shownin FIG. 29. The pet characteristic information is transmitted andreceived between the infrared transmission/reception section 247 and thevirtual electronic pet device 220.

FIG. 34 shows the essential internal structures of the virtualelectronic pet device 220 and the pet-type robot 204 in the case wherethe virtual electronic pet device 220 and the pet-type robot 204 areconnected with each other by radio waves via a radiotransmission/reception section so as to transfer the pet characteristicinformation. In FIG. 34, portions similar to those of FIG. 32 aredenoted by the same numerals and will not be described further indetail.

In the example of FIG. 34, a radio transmission/reception section 238 ofthe virtual electronic pet device 220 is provided in the communicationinterface 112 of FIG. 31. The pet characteristic information istransmitted and received between the radio transmission/receptionsection 238 and a radio transmission/reception section 248 of thepet-type robot 204.

The radio transmission/reception section 248 of the pet-type robot 204corresponds to the radio transmission/reception section 219 shown inFIG. 29. The pet characteristic information is transmitted and receivedbetween the radio transmission/reception section 248 and the radiotransmission/reception section 238 of the virtual electronic pet device220.

Specifically, as the radio transmission/reception section 248 of thepet-type robot 204 and the radio transmission/reception section 238 ofthe virtual electronic pet device 220, Bluetooth modules 248 and 238 canbe used, respectively, as shown in FIG. 35.

The Bluetooth is a radio interface using ISM (industrial ScientificMedical) band of 2.4 GHz which does not require permission as thecarrier frequency. The Bluetooth modules 248 and 238 employ thisBluetooth radio interface. The schematic structure of the Bluetooth willbe described as follows.

The Bluetooth uses a spread spectrum technique in accordance with afrequency hopping system. It uses 79 channels each having a width of 1MHZ and capable of switching the channel 1600 times per second at themaximum. Thus, interference with other radio communications isprevented. Carrier sense is not carried out since hopping is switched tohigh-speed hopping.

The maximum data transmission speed is 1 Mbits/sec. The multiplexingmethod for packets can deal with both TDD (time division duplex) circuitswitching and packet switching. While asynchronous transmission iscarried out, a maximum of three audio channels each having 64 kbits/seccan be secured simultaneously.

The Bluetooth-compatible equipments are classified into a “master” fordeciding the frequency hopping pattern and a maximum of seven “slaves”accompanying the master. A sub-net constituted by the master and severalslaves is called “pico-net”. Since the master can be a slave of thepico-net, it is possible to form a network by sequentially connectingpico-nets. For example, such a network structure is called stacker net.In the pico-net or the stacker net, communications and the state ofequipments are managed using an 8-bit MAC address.

The Bluetooth equipment deals with several modes of differentdissipation powers, depending on the state of participation in thecommunication. By fragmenting the mode in the specification, thedissipation power is reduced.

The link between the master and the slaves is set by the Bluetooth asfollows. First, the master transmits “Inquiry”, which is a messageincluding a key for connection or the like, at an interval of 625 μs. Onthe slave side, since the channel is constantly switched in accordancewith the hopping pattern, synchronization is made approximately in twoseconds. Thus, the master recognizes the slave, and the slave obtains3-bit “Active member address” and enters the pico-net. “Active memberaddress” is address information of 3 bits allocated to the equipmentwhich communicates with the master. As this “Active member address” isallocated, the pico-net is formed.

After that, the master sends a “Page” message to the slave. The slavethe operates in the hopping pattern decided by the master.

After that, authentication is carried out. An encryption key used forauthentication is produced by the exclusive OR of a random numbergenerated by the master and the MAC address of the slave. On completionof the authentication, a dedicated key is provided to simplify thesubsequent processing. Then, transmission and reception of data isstarted.

The foregoing is the schematic structure of the Bluetooth. The pet-typerobot 204 and the virtual electronic pet device 220 can have theBluetooth modules 248 and 238 employing such Bluetooth radio interfaces,respectively, as the radio transmission/reception sections.

FIG. 36 shows the essential internal structures of the personal computer201 and the pet-type robot 204 in the case where the personal computer201 and the pet-type robot 204 are connected with each other by a USBcable as an exemplary serial data cable so as to enable transmission andreception of the pet characteristic information via the personalcomputer 201 and the Internet 200. In FIG. 36, portions similar to thoseof FIG. 32 are denoted by the same numerals and will not be describedfurther in detail.

In the example of FIG. 36, a CPU 251 of the personal computer 201corresponds to a processor unit, and a ROM 255, a RAM 256, and a USBport 252 are generally provided in the personal computer. A data storagesection 253 corresponds to a hard disk, for example. This personalcomputer 201 transfers to the Internet 200 the pet characteristicinformation transmitted from the pet-type robot 204 via the USB cable,and transfers the pet characteristic information received from theInternet 200 to the pet-type robot 204 via the USB cable.

FIG. 37 shows the essential internal structures of the personal computer201 and the pet-type robot 204 in the case where the personal computer201 and the pet-type robot 204 are connected with each other by infraredrays so as to enable transmission and reception of the petcharacteristic information via the personal computer 201 and theInternet 200. In FIG. 37, portions similar to those of FIGS. 36 and 33are denoted by the same numerals and will not be described further indetail.

In the example of FIG. 37, the personal computer 201 has an infraredtransmission/reception port 257, thus transferring to the Internet 200the pet characteristic information transmitted from the pet-type robot204 by using infrared rays and also transferring the pet characteristicinformation received via the Internet 200 to the pet-type robot 204 byusing infrared rays.

FIG. 38 shows the essential internal structures of the personal computer201 and the pet-type robot 204 in the case where the personal computer201 and the pet-type robot 204 are connected with each other by radiowaves so as to enable transmission and reception of the petcharacteristic information via the personal computer 201 and theInternet 200. In FIG. 38, portions similar to those of FIGS. 36 and 34are denoted by the same numerals and will not be described further indetail.

In the example of FIG. 38, the personal computer 201 has a radiotransmission/reception section 258, thus transferring to the Internet200 the pet characteristic information transmitted from the pet-typerobot 204 by using radio waves and also transferring the petcharacteristic information received via the Internet 200 to the pet-typerobot 204 by using radio waves. Specifically, as the radiotransmission/reception section 248 of the pet-type robot 204 and theradio transmission/reception section 238 of the virtual electronic petdevice 220, Bluetooth modules 248 and 238 can be used, respectively, asshown in FIG. 39. The modules 248 and 238 employ Bluetooth radiointerfaces, as described above.

FIG. 40 shows the flow of transmission/reception processing in the casewhere the virtual electronic pet device and the pet-type robot areconnected with each other via a serial data cable, infrared rays, orradio waves, thus transferring the pet characteristic information. Theexample of FIG. 40 shows the flow in the case of transferring the petcharacteristic information from the virtual electronic pet device to thepet-type robot.

In FIG. 40, a connection request is issued, for example, from thepet-type robot. Specifically, the pet-type robot first transmits aconnection request signal to the virtual electronic pet device(expressed as a portable electronic pet in FIG. 40), as indicated by TR1in FIG. 40. In this case, the connection request is issued from thepet-type robot for the following reason. That is, if the connectionrequest can be issued both from the pet-type robot and the virtualelectronic pet device, a switch for determining which side should issuethe connection request must be provided both in the pet-type robot andin the virtual electronic pet device, and particularly, providing such aswitch in the pet-type robot is not desired in view of the design (i.e.,it is desired that various switches are provided in a robot as a pet).However, the present invention is not limited to this example. Theconnection request can also be issued from the side of the virtualelectronic pet device, and can be issued either from the pet-type robotor from the virtual electronic pet device.

Therefore, in the present embodiment, since it is decided to issue theconnection request from the pet-type robot, the switch is not required.

In this case, the connection request signal transmitted from thepet-type robot includes an ownership flag (Own_flg), which is a flagindicating which of the pet-type robot and the virtual electronic petdevice has the right of ownership of the pet characteristic information(that is, a flag indicating which of the pet-type robot and the virtualelectronic pet device the soul resides in). In the present embodiment,the right of ownership of the pet characteristic information is notprovided when the value of the ownership flag is 0 (Own_flg=0), and theright of ownership of the pet characteristic information is providedwhen the value of the ownership flag is 1 (Own_flg=1). In the example ofFIG. 40, as an initial state, the value of the ownership flag of thepet-type robot is 0 (Own_flg=0) and the value of the ownership flag ofthe virtual electronic pet device is 1 (Own_flg=1).

On receiving the connection request signal, the virtual electronic petdevice compares its own ownership flag (Own_flg=1) with the ownershipflag (Own_flg=0) included in the received connection request signal.When the value of the ownership flag of the received connection requestsignal and the value of its own ownership flag are different, thevirtual electronic pet device transmits a connection permission signalto the pet-type robot, as indicated by TR2 in FIG. 40.

On receiving the connection permission signal, the pet-type robotcompares its own ownership flag (Own_flg=0) with the ownership flag(Own_flg=1) included in the received connection permission signal. Whenthe value of the ownership flag of the received connection permissionsignal and the value of its own ownership flag are different, thepet-type robot transmits a data request signal to the virtual electronicpet device, as indicated by TR3 in FIG. 40.

On receiving the data request signal, the virtual electronic pet devicetransmits the pet characteristic information stored therein to thepet-type robot, as indicated by TR4, in FIG. 40.

On receiving all the necessary pet characteristic information, thepet-type robot transmits a reception completion signal to the virtualelectronic pet device, as indicated by TR5 in FIG. 40, and changes thevalue of its own ownership flag to 1 (Own_flg=1).

On receiving the reception completion signal from the pet-type robot,the virtual electronic pet device changes the value of its own ownershipflag to 0 (Own_flg=0). In the above-described manner, the flow in thecase of transferring the pet characteristic information from the virtualelectronic pet device to the pet-type robot is completed. Thus, it isconsidered that the individual information storage section has beenshifted to the pet-type robot.

FIG. 41 shows the flow in the case of transferring the petcharacteristic information from the pet-type robot to the virtualelectronic pet device. In the example of FIG. 41, as an initial state,the value of the ownership flag of the pet-type robot is 1 (Own_flg=1)and the value of the ownership flag of the virtual electronic pet deviceis 0 (Own_flg=0).

In FIG. 41, first, the pet-type robot transmits a connection requestsignal including the ownership flag to the virtual electronic pet device(expressed as a portable electronic pet in FIG. 41), as indicated byTR11 in FIG. 41. The value of the ownership flag in this case is 1(Own_flg=1).

On receiving the connection request signal, the virtual electronic petdevice compares its own ownership flag (Own_flg=0) with the ownershipflag (Own_flg=1) included in the received connection request signal.When the value of the ownership flag of the received connection requestsignal and the value of its own ownership flag are different, thevirtual electronic pet device transmits a connection permission signalto the pet-type robot, as indicated by TR12 in FIG. 41.

On receiving the connection permission signal, the pet-type robotcompares its own ownership flag (Own_flg=1) with the ownership flag(Own_flg=0) included in the received connection permission signal. Whenthe value of the ownership flag of the received connection permissionsignal and the value of its own ownership flag are different, thepet-type robot transmits the pet characteristic information storedtherein to the virtual electronic pet device, as indicated by TR13 inFIG. 41.

On receiving all the necessary pet characteristic information, thevirtual electronic pet device transmits a reception completion signal tothe virtual electronic pet device, as indicated by TR14 in FIG. 41, andchanges the value of its own ownership flag to 1 (Own_flg=1).

On receiving the reception completion signal from the virtual electronicpet device, the pet-type robot changes the value of its own ownershipflag to 0 (Own_flg=0). In the above-described manner, the flow in thecase of transferring the pet characteristic information from thepet-type robot to the virtual electronic pet device is completed. Thus,it is considered that the individual information storage section hasbeen shifted to the virtual electronic pet device.

FIG. 42 shows the flow of communication in the case where the value ofthe ownership flag of the pet-type robot and the value of the ownershipflag of the virtual electronic pet device are the same. In the exampleof FIG. 42, as an initial state, the value of the ownership flag of thepet-type robot is 0 (Own_flg=0) and the value of the ownership flag ofthe virtual electronic pet device is also 0 (Own_flg=0). As the value ofthe ownership flag of the pet-type robot and the value of the ownershipflag of the virtual electronic pet device are the same, it is indicatedthat the pet-type robot and the virtual electronic pet device originallydeal with different electronic pets and that transmission/reception ofthe pet characteristic information cannot be carried out.

In FIG. 42, first, the pet-type robot transmits a connection requestsignal including the ownership flag to the virtual electronic pet device(expressed as a portable electronic pet in FIG. 42), as indicated byTR21 in FIG. 42. The value of the ownership flag in this case is 0(Own_flg=0).

On receiving the connection request signal, the virtual electronic petdevice compares its own ownership flag (Own_flg=0) with the ownershipflag (Own_flg=0) included in the received connection request signal.

In this case, since the value of the ownership flag of the receivedconnection request signal and the value of its own ownership flag arethe same, the virtual electronic pet device transmits a receptioncompletion signal to the pet-type robot, as indicated by TR22 in FIG.42. On receiving the reception completion signal, the pet-type robotends the processing.

FIG. 43 shows an exemplary data format of the above-described connectionrequest signal, the connection permission signal, and the receptioncompletion signal.

The connection request signal consists of the connection request ID, thenumber of communication bytes, which the number of bytes used at thetime of connection, and the ownership flag (Own_flg) with its additionaldata, each of the connection request ID, the number of communicationbytes and the ownership flag being represented by 4 bytes.

The connection permission signal consists of the connection permissionID, the number of communication bytes, and the ownership flag (Own_flg)with its additional data, each being represented by 4 bytes.

The reception completion signal consists of the reception completion ID,the number of communication bytes, and the ownership flag (Own_flg) withits additional data, each being represented by 4 bytes.

In the above-described embodiment, it is possible to transmit andreceive the pet characteristic information of the electronic pet,directly or via the Internet. In the present invention, it is alsopossible to manage various types of information related to theelectronic pet by a predetermined server 260 via the Internet 200.Hereinafter, this server is referred to as a pet shared server.

FIG. 44 shows the conceptual structure of a network system in which thepet characteristic information of the virtual electronic pet device 202,the personal computer 201, and the pet-type robots 204, 204 is managedby a pet shared server 260 via the Internet 200.

In the case of this network system, the pet shared server 260 isprovided with a data storage section 261 which has a pet characteristicinformation storage section 262 for storing the pet characteristicinformation and a management information (shared server pet managementinformation) storage section 263 for electronic pets managed by the petshared server 260.

FIG. 45 shows the essential internal structures of the virtualelectronic pet device 220 and the pet-type robot 204 in the case wherethe pet shared server 260, the virtual electronic pet device 220 and thepet-type robot 204 are connected via the Internet 200. In FIG. 45,portions similar to those of the foregoing drawings are denoted by thesame numerals and will not be described further in detail.

In the example of FIG. 45, since the virtual electronic pet device 220and the pet-type robot 204 can be connected directly to the Internet200, the virtual electronic pet device 220 and the pet-type robot 204include modems 239 and 249, respectively. Through the modems 239 and249, it is possible to connect to the pet shared server 260 via theInternet 200 and to manage various types of data including the petcharacteristic information by the pet shared server 260.

As it is made possible to manage the pet characteristic information ofthe electronic pet by the pet shared server 260 via the Internet 200 asshown in FIGS. 44 and 45, it is possible to cause the pet shared server260 to manage the pet characteristic information of the electronic pet,for example, in the case where the owner is away from home for abusiness trip, that is, to leave the electronic pet to the pet sharedserver, and at the destination of the business trip, retrieve and playwith the pet characteristic information from the server, as shown inFIG. 46.

Specifically, in the example of FIG. 46, at home before making abusiness trip, the pet-type robot is first connected to the Internet soas to access the pet shared server, as described in A of FIG. 46. Atthis point, the value of the ownership flag of the pet-type robot is 1(Own_flg=1). When the value of the ownership flag is 1, the pet-typerobot automatically selects “leaving” for leaving the pet characteristicinformation to the server. Thus, the pet characteristic information isuploaded from the pet-type robot to the server. Since the individualelectronic pets left to the pet shared server must be distinguished, thespecific ID and password stored in the ROM of the pet-type robot aresimultaneously transferred to the server in the uploading.

Next, at the destination of the business trip, for example, a portableterminal (a portable virtual electronic pet device or personal computer)is connected to the Internet so as to access the pet shared server, asdescribed in B of FIG. 46. At this point, a plurality of menu items aredisplayed in the image display section of the portable terminal (theimage display section of the portable virtual electronic pet device orthe monitor of the personal computer). The menu items include “leaving”,“receiving” and so on. In this case, “receiving” is selected. Forreceiving the electronic pet which the user left, the user enters the IDand password to prevent reception of a wrong electronic pet. After that,the pet characteristic information of the electronic pet left to the petshared server is downloaded to the portable terminal. Thus, the user cankeep the electronic pet on the portable terminal or play with theelectronic pet even at the destination of the business trip.

When returning from the destination of the business trip, for example,the portable terminal is connected to the Internet so as to access thepet shared server, as described in C of FIG. 46. Thus, a plurality ofmenu items are displayed in the image display section of the portableterminal. As the user selects “leaving” of the menu items and enters theID and password, the pet characteristic information is uploaded from theportable terminal to the server.

After returning home from the business trip, the pet-type robot isconnected to the Internet so as access the pet shared server, asdescribed in D of FIG. 46. At this point, the value of the ownershipflag of the pet-type robot is 0 (Own_flg=0). When the value of theownership flag is 0, the pet-type robot automatically selects“receiving” for receiving the pet characteristic information from theserver. Thus, the pet characteristic information is downloaded from theserver to the pet-type robot.

In the above-described second embodiment, the electronic pet is kept asthe electronic pet on the virtual electronic pet device, the pet-typerobot, and the personal computer. However, as a third embodiment of thepresent invention, it is also possible that the pet-type robot plays asan electronic pet 263 in a virtual world 261 on the personal computerand that the user himself/herself enters the virtual world 261 as anavatar 262 and plays with his/her own electronic pet, as shown in FIG.47. The avatar is the incarnation of the god appearing in the Indianmythology. In the virtual world drawn as two-dimensional orthree-dimensional computer graphics, this avatar serves as a characterrepresenting the user.

In the present embodiment, it is also possible to let the avatar 262 ofthe user and his/her electronic pet 263 enter a virtual world 260 whichis constructed on the network and in which another avatar 264 andhis/her electronic pet 265 exist, and to let them communicate with eachother.

In the example shown in FIG. 45, the virtual electronic pet device 220and the pet-type robot 204 can be connected to the Internet 200 via themodems 239 and 249. However, the means for connection to the Internet isnot limited to these modems. For example, connection can be made byBluetooth modules, which are radio means. In such a case, the pet-typerobot 204 and the virtual electronic pet device 220 have Bluetoothmodules 249 a and 239 a, respectively, as radio transmission/receptionsections, as shown in FIG. 48. Accordingly, Bluetooth modules 249 b and239 b are connected to the Internet (e.g., public telephone network) anddata transmission/reception is carried out with the Bluetooth module 249a of the pet-type robot 204 and the Bluetooth module 239 a the virtualelectronic pet device 220. In this case, the Bluetooth modules 239 a,249 a, 239 b and 249 b employ Bluetooth radio interfaces, as describedabove.

Hereinafter, the structure and operation will be described which areadapted for realizing the keeping of the electronic pet in athree-dimensional virtual space as in the third embodiment by using theWWW (world wide web) framework for providing various types ofinformation via the Internet, which is a computer network constructed onthe global scale, and by using VRML (virtual reality modeling language),which is a description language enabling unified handling ofthree-dimensional information.

First, prior to the description of the third embodiment of the presentinvention, VRML will be briefly explained.

VRML is a three-dimensional graphics description language which enablessetting of links of hyper texts with respect to an object drawn bydescription in the three-dimensional space or three-dimensional graphicsand which enables sequential access to the WWW server while tracingthese links. To display the three-dimensional space described in thisVRML, VRML browser has been developed. The details of VRML aredescribed, for example, in Mark Pesce, “VRML: Browsing & Building ofCyberspace”, 1995, New Readers Publishing, ISBN 1-56205-498-8 (and itsJapanese version, translated by Koichi Matsuda, Terutaka Kamachi,Shoichi Takeuchi, Yasuaki Honda, Junichi Rekimoto, Masayuki Ishikawa,Ken Miyashita and Kazuhiro Hara, first edition published on Mar. 25,1996), and Koichi Matsuda and Yasuaki Honda, “The Latest Trend of VRMLand Cyber-Passage”, bit (Kyoritsu Shuppan), 1996, Vol.28, No.7, pp.29 to36; No.8, pp.57 to 65; No.9, pp.29 to 36; and No.10, pp.49 to officialcomplete specification of the Virtual Reality Modeling Language Version2.0, ISO/IEC CD 14772, Aug. 4, 1996. Moreover, as the VRML 2.0 browserand the shared server software, for example, the present Applicant, SonyCorporation has developed and produced “Community Place Browser/Bureau(trademark)”, and its beta version (sample version).

In the case of building a three-dimensional virtual space using suchVRML 2.0, a VRML file representing desired contents is first prepared inaccordance with the corresponding relation (routing) between the graphicdata and the script, for example, preparation of the graphic dataindicating the shape, motion, and position of an object (model) in thevirtual space by using VRML (i.e., preparation of the model), addition,to the model, of a switch (sensor) which generates an event when theuser clicks the mouse to point the model in the virtual space displayedon the screen (i.e., addition of the sensor), programming of the scriptfor realizing the event generated in response to the pointing to thesensor (i.e., preparation of the script), and operation with respect tothe sensor and starting of the script. (Hereinafter, common nodes suchas the graphic data, the script, and the right prescribed in VRML arealso referred to as nodes, as a general term.) For example, how to writeand sample data of VRML 2.0.

The data of VRML 2.0 is constituted by a node and a field. The fieldprovides a variable to the node and designates the parameter of thenode. The field may be omitted. In the case where the field is omitted,a default value is used. As the field, a “single-value field (SF)”having only a single value or a “multiple-value field (MF)” may beemployed. For the detailed function of the node and the field, “Appendix1: VRML 2.0 Node List” should be referred to.

In VRML 2.0, a mechanism for realizing autonomic behavior in the VRMLvirtual space is prescribed. The details of the mechanism for autonomicbehavior are disclosed in the paragraph of concepts in the specification4 of the Virtual Reality Modeling Language Version 2.0, ISO/IEC CD14772, Aug. 4, 1996. In the paragraph, the key concepts for using theVRML specification are described. General items related to various nodesare described such as the method for coupling a node to a scene graph,the method in which a node generates or receives an event, the methodfor preparing a node type using a prototype, the method for adding anode type to VRML and exporting it so as to enable use from outside, andthe method for incorporating a script operating as a program into theVRML file.

FIG. 49 shows the specific structure of the network system according tothe third embodiment.

The constituent elements denoted by numerals 301, 302, and 303 in FIG.49 are client PCs, that is, the above-described personal computers inwhich a VRML browser and a WWW browser are installed and operating.These client PCs are connected to the Internet 307 via Internetconnection service providers 304, 305, and 306.

To a LAN,(local area network) 309 connected to the Internet 307 via arouter 308, a WWW server 310, a WLS (world location server) 311, a petshared server 312, AO servers 313, 314, a mail server 315, and acommunication server 316 are connected. In these servers 310 to 316,hard disks (HDDs) 310 a, 310 b, 311 a to 316 a are provided,respectively.

The communication server 316 is connected to a telephone set 318 and afacsimile 319 via a public telephone network 317. The communicationserver 316 is also connected to a PHS (personal handyphone system)terminal 323 via a PHS service provider 320, and is connected throughradio waves to a pager terminal 324 via a pager service provider 321.

FIG. 50 is a block diagram showing the hardware structure of the clientPC 301 of FIG. 49.

In FIG. 50, the client PC 301 is constituted by a CPU 330 forcontrolling each part, an HDD 331 in which the VRML contents made up ofa script program of a virtual life object by VRML 2.0 or Java(trademark) and the user data are stored, a CD-ROM drive 332 for readingthe VRML contents stored on a CD-ROM disc 333, a ROM 334 in which BIOS(basic input output systems) and the like are stored, a sound processingcircuit 335 connected with a microphone 336 and left and right speakers337, 338, a modem 339 for connecting to the Internet 307, an I/O(input/output) interface 340 connected with a mouse 341 and a keyboard342, a graphics processing circuit 343 having a VRAM 344 providedtherein, a CRT monitor 345, and a RAM 346. At the time of execution, aWWW browser (e.g., Netscape Navigator (trademark)) operating on an OS(e.g., Windows by Microsoft), an interpreter (e.g., Java interpreter),and a VRML 2.0 browser (e.g., Community place Browser developed by SonyCorporation) are read into the RAM 346 so as to be executed by the CPU330.

In the VRML 2.0 browser, a syntax interpretation library (parser) ofVRML (e.g., QvLib developed by Silicon Graphics of the U.S. and madeopen free of charge), and a software renderer (e.g., RenderWare producedby Criterion Software Ltd. of England) are provided.

The VRML 2.0 browser of this client PC carries outtransmission/reception of various types of data to/from the WWW browser(e.g., Netscape Navigator) on the basis of NCAPI (Netscape ClientApplication Programming Interface (trademark)), as shown in FIG. 50.

On receiving the HTML file and the VRML contents (including the VRMLfile and the script program) from the WWW server 310 via the Internet307, the WWW browser stores these data into the local HDD 331. The WWWbrowser processes the HTML file of the received data and displays textsand images on the CRT monitor. On the other hand, the VRML browserprocesses the VRML file and displays a three-dimensional virtual spaceon the CRT monitor, and also changes the behavior of the object in thethree-dimensional virtual space in accordance with the result ofprocessing of the script program by the interpreter.

Although not shown in the drawing, the other client PCs 302 and 303 areconstituted similarly to the client PC 301.

An exemplary operation of the system shown in FIG. 49 will now bedescribed.

First, the procedures from the actual downloading of the VRML contentsvia the Internet to the provision of a multi-user environment in which aplurality of users share one virtual space will be described withreference to FIGS. 51 to 53.

As indicated by L1 in FIG. 51, the homepage of the website providing theVRML contents is first browsed by using the WWW browser. Then, the usersof the client PC 301 and the client PC 302 download the VRML contentsmade up of the VRML 2.0 file and the script program (e.g., Java scriptprogram) for realizing autonomic behavior in the VRML space, asindicated by L2 in FIG. 51. Of course, the VRML contents provided on theCD-ROM 333 may be read by the CD-ROM drive 332.

Next, as shown in FIG. 52, in the client PC 301 and the client PC 302,the VRML browser interprets and executes the VRML 2.0 file, which isdownloaded and temporarily stored on the local HDD 331 of therespectively client PCs. Moreover, the client PC 301 and the client PC302 inquire the WLS 311 for the URL of the pet shared server 312 on thebasis of the VSCP (virtual society server client protocol), as indicatedby L3 in FIG. 52. In this case, the WLS 311 notifies the client PC 301and the client PC 302 of the URL of the pet shared server 312 withreference to a shared server URL management table stored on an HDD 311a, as indicated by L4 in FIG. 52.

Using the URL, the client PC 301 and the client PC 302 are connected tothe pet shared server 312, as shown in FIG. 53. Consequently,transmission of a shared message related to the position and motion of ashared 3D (three-dimensional) object is carried out via the pet sharedserver 312, as indicated by L5 in FIG. 53, and transfer of the sharedmessage is carried out, as indicated by L6 in FIG. 53, thus realizing amulti-user environment.

In the multi-user environment thus realized, when log-in from the clientPC 301, that is, from the user, is made, the pet shared server 312transmits the data of the virtual shared world to the client PC 301 andtransfers the data of the virtual life object in the AO server 313.

On receiving the whole data of the virtual shared world and the data ofthe object in the virtual shared world, the client PC 301 records thesedata onto the internal hard disk or stores them into the internalmemory, and then displays the virtual shared world on the monitor screenon the basis of the recorded data.

In the case where the user enters his/her own avatar 262 and theelectronic pet 263 into the virtual shared world at the client PC 301, acall message is transmitted to the AO server 313 via the pet sharedserver 312. The AO server 313 executes parameter updating processingbased on the access event.

As another access event is executed, the operation message istransmitted to the AO server 313, and the parameter is updated everytime an operation event is generated.

For example, every time the parameter is updated, it is transferred tothe client PC 301 and the other client PC 302 which shares the virtualspace, by multi-cast processing of the pet shared server 312.

In the client PC 301, the script program in which the processingprocedure for controlling the autonomic behavior of the electronic petis described is executed on the basis of the parameter sent backthereto. The value of the field of each node constituting thethree-dimensional object for expressing the electronic pet of the VRMLfile is changed. The electronic pet on which the changed value of thefield is reflected is rendered and displayed on the main window of theVRML browser on the screen of the image display section of the client PC301.

The same processing as that of the client PC 301 is executed in theother client PC 302 which shares the virtual world. Thus, the electronicpet on which the value of the field changed in accordance with themovement of the electronic pet is reflected is rendered and alsodisplayed on the main window of the VRML browser on the image displaysection of the other client PC 302.

For the details of the above-described connection procedure, theJapanese Publication of Unexamined Patent Application No. Hei 9-81781should be referred to.

In the present embodiment, the information providing medium forproviding the computer program for executing the above-describedprocessing includes a network transmission medium such as the Internetor a satellite as well as an information recording medium such as amagnetic disk or a CD-ROM.

What is claimed is:
 1. A network system comprising: one or moreimplementation devices having transmission/reception means fortransmitting and receiving the internal state of a living body object,which is changed in accordance with input information and is informationfor causing the living body object to act, and the identificationinformation of the living body object, thus implementing the living bodyobject; a server device having management means for managing theinternal state of the living body object and the identificationinformation of the living body object, and transmission/reception meansfor transmitting/receiving at least the internal state and theidentification information; wherein the implementation devices and theserver device are connected with each other via a network.
 2. Thenetwork system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the internal state of theimplementation devices is stored in storage means, and the internalstate stored in the storage means is transmitted and received by thetransmission/reception means.
 3. The network system as claimed in claim1, wherein the implementation device is an information processing devicefor carrying out processing for implementing the living body object byimage display means, or a robot which controls a motion section to carryout processing for implementing the living body object as an existencein the real world.
 4. The network system as claimed in claim 3, whereinthe robot actually carries out an action based on the internal state viaa posture or a motion to which the motion section can made transitionfrom the current posture.
 5. The network system as claimed in claim 1,wherein the internal state indicates at least one of the state of theemotion and the state of the instinct.
 6. The network system as claimedin claim 1, wherein the input information is at least one of surroundinginformation and internal information.
 7. The network system as claimedin claim 1, wherein the internal state is an internal state parameterexpressed by a parameter, and the internal state parameter is updated inaccordance with the input information and the updated internal stateparameter is stored into the storage means.
 8. The network system asclaimed in claim 7, wherein when the internal state parameter hasreached a threshold value, a predetermined action is selected and theaction is actually carried out.
 9. The network system as claimed inclaim 8, wherein when the internal state parameter has reached athreshold value, a plurality of actions are selected and one of theactions is actually carried out.
 10. A network system comprising: animplementation device having transmission/reception means fortransmitting and receiving the internal state of a living body object,which is changed in accordance with input information and is informationfor causing the living body object to act, thus implementing the livingbody object; and an information processing device havingtransmission/reception means for transmitting and receiving the internalstate of the living body object, the information processing devicecontrolling the action of the living body object acting in a virtualworld on the basis of the internal state of the living body object, theinformation processing device carrying out processing for displaying atleast the virtual world and the living body object; wherein informationis transmitted and received between the implementation device and theinformation processing device via a network.
 11. The network system asclaimed in claim 10, wherein the implementation device has storage meansin which the living body object is stored, and the internal state storedin the storage means is transmitted and received by thetransmission/reception means.
 12. The network system as claimed in claim10, wherein the implementation device and the network have radiotransmission/reception means employing a Bluetooth radio interface,respectively, and are connected to each other via radio waves so as tocarry out transmission/reception of information.
 13. The network systemas claimed in claim 10, wherein the implementation device is aninformation processing device for carrying out processing forimplementing the living body object by image display means, or a robotwhich controls a motion section to carry out processing for implementingthe living body object as an existence in the real world.
 14. Thenetwork system as claimed in claim 13, wherein the robot actuallycarries out an action based on the internal state via a posture or amotion to which the motion section can made transition from the currentposture.
 15. The network system as claimed in claim 10, wherein theinternal state indicates at least one of the state of the emotion andthe state of the instinct.
 16. The network system as claimed in claim10, wherein the input information is at least one of surroundinginformation and internal information.
 17. The network system as claimedin claim 10, wherein the internal state is an internal state parameterexpressed by a parameter, and the internal state parameter is updated inaccordance with the input information.
 18. The network system as claimedin claim 17, wherein when the internal state parameter has reached athreshold value, a predetermined action is selected and the action isactually carried out.
 19. The network system as claimed in claim 18,wherein when the internal state parameter has reached a threshold value,a plurality of actions are selected and one of the actions is actuallycarried out.